UFC star Curtis Blaydes has issued a fiery response to Jon Jones for his criticism about the rising prospect.
Coming off a headlining outing against fellow top-ten ranked athlete Tom Aspinall, Blaydes moved an inch closer to getting his hands on the promotional gold with a win.
Although he came out on top of the main event contest, the anticlimactic finish caused by Aspinall’s freak knee injury in the first 15 seconds of the opening round did not get Blaydes the attention he was hoping for at UFC London.
Ahead of the matchup, Blaydes had talked about a potential showdown between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, backing the latter to hand Jones his first defeat in over 12 years. Jones did not take too kindly to the comments and bashed the fourth-ranked contender at heavyweight for hating.
In an appearance on “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani, Blaydes addressed Jones’ response and fired shots right back at him.
“I don’t think he read everything I said,” Blaydes said (h/t MMA Fighting). “I think he read the first line and was just like, ‘Ah!’ But all I said was I picked Stipe over Jon Jones, because Stipe has five-round title fight experience at heavyweight.
“With Jon, he does not. Why does that make you angry?
“I also said, ‘Jon, he hasn’t shown he has one-punch knockout power,’ which isn’t a bad thing. There’s a lot of guys who don’t have one-punch knockout power that have the belt.
“Khabib, he had the belt. Izzy, does he have one-punch knockout power? There’s a lot of guys that don’t have one-punch knockout power.”
Jones Criticized Blaydes for Hating on Him
During the build-up to Blaydes’ fight with Aspinall, he was asked about the idea that Jones could get an interim title shot in his division debut against the former and greatest UFC heavyweight champion Miocic.
Blaydes gave a fair analysis of how the bout would likely go down and appeared to favor Miocic due to his experience.
In a July 21 tweet, Jones hit back at “Razor” Blaydes, writing: “Focus on your fight this weekend Tiny, you’ve been rooting against me for years now. I see you. Hating on me won’t propel you into being a champion. Less hate, more work.”
Blaydes Doesn’t Get Why Jones Got Offended
Blaydes is unsure of what exactly caused Jones to get offended by his statements.
“I don’t understand why he took such offense to what I said, but I’m over it,” Blaydes said. “I don’t feel like I said anything super disrespectful or super aggressive. Maybe he had a few too many drinks that night. I don’t know.”
He’s looking to get a top contender bout and called out Jones for his next fight if “Bones” is able to dispatch Miocic.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t be angry with the interim thing if they do Jon Jones vs. Stipe,” he said. “At least it gives me a goal, like a trajectory, like, ‘OK, I beat the winner of Tuivasa-Gane, I get the winner of Stipe-Jones, and at least I have an interim belt. And that means I get the guy who has the real belt.’ That’ll be something, and I can live with that.”
Blaydes expressed his willingness to take on Jones.
“I’m like, ‘Bro, you know I’m not tiny,’” he added. “I don’t know what that was about.
“If they hit me up for Jon, I’m down. I’ll take that fight.”
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UFC Monster Targets Jon Jones in Fiery Response to Criticism