Blaydes stops Almeida at UFC 299, calls for interim title fight with Tom Aspinall

Curtis Blaydes bided his time in the opening round against Jailton Almeida Saturday in the featured preliminary bout at UFC 299 before finishing his opponent via technical knockout in the second round.

The No. 5-ranked heavyweight contender celebrated his win by calling for a rematch with current interim champion Tom Aspinall.

“I believe me and Aspinall have got some unfinished business,” Blaydes told Joe Rogan during his post-fight interview. “I’d like to get that one next. That’s my next fight. Aspinall.”

Blaydes and Aspinall met previously in July 2022 in a UFC Fight Night main event in Aspinall’s native England, however, it unfortunately ended after just 15 seconds when Aspinall blew out one of his knees. Blaydes earned a win on his record for that fight but there has always been an unofficial asterisk beside that one. 

The knee injury kept Aspinall out of action for a year. He picked up a 73-second win in his first fight back then knocked out Sergei Pavlovich in November at UFC 295 to win the interim heavyweight title. Current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones is recovering from an injury and is expected to face former undisputed champ Stipe Miocic at some point later in 2024.

Blaydes was knocked out by Pavlovich nine months after facing Aspinall but returned to the win column by using his heavy hands to give Almeida his first loss in the UFC.

While stuffing an early second-round takedown attempt from Almeida, the American Blaydes began landing heavy hammerfist strikes that put his Brazilian opponent away.

Blaydes is 13-4 with one no-contest during his UFC career. He has never fought for a title and his only losses have been knockouts to elite power punchers Pavlovich, Derrick Lewis and Francis Ngannou twice. 

Almeida had won 15 consecutive fights dating back to 2018 and had amassed a six-fight winning streak that included back-to-back wins over Derrick Lewis and Jairzinho Rozenstruik within the past year.