'Sometimes you're the hammer and sometimes you're the nail' - Curtis Blaydes reflects on defeat to Derrick Lewis
Curtis Blaydes has opened up on the defeat he suffered at the hands of Derrick Lewis at the UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Lewis event.
As noted in the stories section of Curtis Blaydes’ official Instagram account, Blaydes wrote a brief post wherein he addressed his recent loss.
Curtis Blaydes’ post read as follows:
“Sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes you’re the nail. This game has a razor-thin margin for error, and I just got caught. It happens. Props to Derrick. No shame in it. My head’s still held high.”
Curtis Blaydes is regarded as one of the best heavyweight MMA fighters in the world right now. Blaydes entered his UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs Lewis (February 20th, 2021) main event matchup as the favorite.
The consensus was that Curtis Blaydes’s overall grappling skills, and his wrestling skills in particular, would enable him to outwork and defeat the feared KO artist that is Derrick Lewis.
Nevertheless, Derrick Lewis successfully defended Curtis Blaydes’s takedown attempts. In round two, Lewis landed a huge counter right uppercut in response to a takedown. Lewis’s counter uppercut knocked Blaydes out cold.
Derrick Lewis also landed a couple of ground strikes on Curtis Blaydes after the latter was rendered unconscious by the thunderous uppercut.
Needless to say, many in the MMA world expressed their concern for Blaydes, wishing him a safe and speedy recovery.
On the contrary, certain sections of the MMA community chose to troll Curtis Blaydes over his vicious KO loss. Among his detractors was a troll, a supposed hacker, who tracked down Blaydes’s phone number, contacted the UFC heavyweight via video call, and then mocked him for getting knocked out.
Members of the MMA community eventually tracked down the individual and posted his identity on social media.
Furthermore, Curtis Blaydes’s message, posted on his Instagram story, has served as an optimistic message regarding his well-being after suffering a scary KO loss and being relentlessly trolled for it.
The victory over Curtis Blaydes has made way for Derrick Lewis to potentially receive another shot at the UFC heavyweight title
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic is set to defend his title against Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 on March 27th, 2021. The winner of the match-up will then defend it against former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones later this year.
Having knocked out Curtis Blaydes, who’s the No. 2-ranked UFC heavyweight, Derrick Lewis has moved one step closer to fighting for UFC heavyweight gold yet again.
Lewis unsuccessfully challenged then-UFC heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier at UFC 230 in November 2018, losing via second-round submission.
That said, Derrick Lewis will have to wait until the conclusion of the Miocic vs Ngannou and the Miocic/Ngannou vs Jones fights.
Furthermore, Derrick Lewis also revealed that he’d love to fight the No. 6-ranked UFC heavyweight, MMA legend Alistair Overeem.