Prior to UFC Vegas 3, Curtis Blaydes let the world know that his wrestling game would be on full display in his fight with Alexander Volkov. But, clearly Dana White wasn’t happy with the heavyweight contender’s performance, as the UFC President claims Blaydes failed to deliver on his pre-fight, talk.

White claims Blaydes looks “stupid” for not doing more

A few days ago, Blaydes relayed via social media that he planned out wrestle Volkov. The powerful wrestler also said he was going to “rag doll” the noted striker.

Well, Blaydes did go out and dominate Volkov with his wrestling, as he took the Russian down 14 times. After five rounds, there was no question that Blaydes was going to be awarded the win, and he was.

But, when asked by the media for his thoughts on Blaydes’s performance, White said this (quotes via MMA Junkie).

“I like Curtis Blaydes, but Curtis Blaydes has the wrong attitude as far as I’m concerned,” White said. “I don’t have anything against the kid at all, (but) when you talk (expletive) like he talked this week, you better come in and whoop somebody’s ass when you talk (expletive) like that.

When you talk the (expletive) that he did and perform like he did tonight? You look stupid.

“Yeah, he won. He talked a lot of (expletive) coming in this week. I don’t think you talk the (expletive) he talked this week and come in and perform like that.

Talking about rag-dolling people, and he’s not getting paid, and yada yada, he should be getting the title shot. He gassed out at the end of the third round, made it to the fifth and won the fight. Yeah, he won.”

Reaction?

So, there’s a couple of things to look at here. First off, even the biggest Blaydes’s fans would likely concede there were places in the fight where he could have been more offensive. Case in point, Volkov actually out struck Blaydes by a 127 to 116 margin.

It’s also true that Blaydes was extremely tired after the third round, and that unquestionably impacted his ability to look for a finish. Whether it was ground-and-pound strikes or a submission.

But, when you consider how one-sided the fight was, the claim Blaydes looks “stupid” as a result of what he said heading into the fight, is way off. Especially since Blaydes was coming off back-to-back, stoppage wins over Shamil Abdurakhimov and Junior dos Santos heading into this fight

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