Curtis Blaydes is the current #3 ranked heavyweight in the UFC but more importantly, he received his purple belt from Professor Cody Donovan at High Altitude Martial Arts last week. In honor of this achievement, we are going to go through a history of Curtis’s achievements throughout his athletic career and how that led him to High Altitude Martial Arts, and his career in MMA.
Early Life
Blaydes was born in Naperville, IL on February 18, 1991, but spent most of his childhood growing up in Chicago. He attended De La Salle Institute for high school where he had a dominant wrestling career, graduating with a 95-18 record and 121 takedowns (the most in school history at the time). In his senior year, he won the 2009 Illinois State Wrestling Title in the 285 lb. division and ended the year with an undefeated 44-0 record
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College
With such an impressive high school wrestling career, Blaydes landed a full scholarship to Northern Illinois University where, as a redshirt freshman, ended with a 19-2 record before transferring to Harper College. As a sophomore at Harper, he won the NJCAA National Championship in the heavyweight division and received All-American honors and team MVP. Despite his collegiate success, he chose to leave school to pursue a career in MMA.
Early Career
Blaydes first stepped in the MMA ring on September of 2012 where he defeated his first opponent 13 seconds into the first round by KO/TKO. After two more first round amateur MMA wins in June and July of 2013, including the “Brawl at the Hall Amateur” heavyweight title, he randomly entered the International Kickboxing Federation Amateur Championship. Despite this competition being a mere week after his most recent MMA win, he entered the super heavyweight division with a 0-0 record and ended up winning the competition. After a TKO in the preliminary round and a win by decision in the finals, Blaydes officially holds the title of “Amateur Kickboxing Champion” amongst his other accolades.
Professional Career
After two more amateur MMA wins in 2013 and early 2014, he got his first shot at a professional MMA career in mid-2014. Blaydes finished his first 5 fights by TKO in smaller productions until finally being signed by the UFC in 2016. His first UFC fight was against current UFC Heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, where Blaydes lost by doctor stoppage after having his right eye swollen shut by Ngannou. Professor Cody Donovan of High Altitude Martial Arts and Elevation Fight Team was at this fight coaching fellow UFC competitor Bojan Velickovic and was impressed by Blaydes potential. Blaydes’ manager contacted Professor Cody and asked if Blaydes could come down to Denver to train with the Elevation Fight Team. After only a week’s visit, Blaydes decided Denver and the Elevation Fight Team were going to become his home, fight team, and family. He moved to Mile High City and his career kept climbing.
Blaydes continued a dominant career in the UFC over the next two years with a record of 10-1, including a “Performance of the Night” win over future Elevation Fight Team teammate Alistair Overeem, before coming up against Ngannou again in November of 2018 where he lost by TKO (punches). Only four months later, he resumed his hot streak against Justin Willis on UFC Fight Night by unanimous decision and three more UFC wins through 2020. His February 2021 loss against Derrick Lewis was the only time he has ever been knocked out in a fight and not lost a fight since. He has racked up three more UFC wins including a “Performance of the Night” win against Chris Daukaus in March of 2022 and a recent win in July 2022, bringing his current record to 17-3 as of fall of 2022.
Curtis “Razor” Blaydes
Despite never having won a match by submission, new purple-belt-Blaydes currently has the most takedowns in UFC Heavyweight division history at 62 takedowns landed, which is 28 more takedowns than the next closest fighter in history, Cain Velasquez, and 37 more takedowns than the next closest “active” fighter, Stipe Miocic. He also holds the UFC Heavyweight division record for “Control Time” and “Top Position Time”, demonstrating his grappling and wrestling prowess.
We are incredibly proud of Curtis for his accomplishments in the ring and in the gym. He has fully earned his purple belt through hard work and training on the mats. Almost every week, he attends advanced no gi to continue evolving his game. As incredible as his UFC record and accolades are, nothing he has done is as incredible as deciding to invest in a good haircut and growing out his beard.
