UFC 242: Brutal Stoppage Leads Curtis Blaydes Closer to the Heavyweight Title

UFC 242 has been exactly as it was advertised. In the heavyweight bout, Curtis Blaydes took on ranked 9 heavyweights, Shamil Abdurakhimov. Coming into the fight Blaydes was a heavy favorite.

Skill-wise this was a bad matchup for Shamil as Blaydes is a high-level wrestler with an insane number of takedowns in his UFC career.
Only Francis Ngannou has been able to stop Blaydes since he has debuted in UFC. While legends such as Mark Hunt and Alister Overeem has fallen victim to Blaydes’ grueling grappling.

Well, this match was nothing different. In round 1, Blaydes started with a few faints for level changes and eb=nded up taking Shamil down within a matter of seconds. Though Shamil is strong physically his lack of technique in wrestling was visible as he couldn’t get back up without exhausting himself.

It was a series of takedowns, 4 to be exact, and some good ground control in the first round, that gave Blaydes the first round.

In the last few seconds, things got interesting when Blaydes passed the guard of Shamil and started hurting him wit some big punches and elbows. however, Shamil was saved by the bell and survived the first round somehow.

There was nothing new in the second round either. Curtis Blaydes did trade strikes for few seconds with Shamil before taking him down again, and this time he had a lot of time to dominate on the ground.
Blaydes showed beautiful control on the ground and started some offenses going from the top. In the end, it was a big elbow from Blaydes that shattered Shamil’s nose. This forced the referee to stop the fight as Shamil was defenseless, holding his shattered nose.

https://twitter.com/OnMMA/status/1170412811165548545?s=20

With this win, Curtis Blaydes just improved his resume for the title shot at the heavyweight division. With 12 wins in his UFC career, it’s safe to say that big things are coming for Curtis Blaydes and his performance in UFC 242 just showed us that he can put up a fight against the champion if he gets the opportunity.