Curtis Blaydes names himself Jon Jones’ biggest challenge at heavyweight: “The odds are in my favor”

UFC heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes believes he’s Jon Jones’ biggest challenge.

‘Razor’ has been out of the octagon since his UFC London showdown with Tom Aspinall last July. In that outing, the British star suffered a knee injury in the first round, giving Blaydes the victory by stoppage. The win was his third in a row, having already earned lopsided wins over Chris Daukaus and Jairzinho Rozenstruik.

The heavyweight contender is set to return this weekend in the main event of UFC Vegas 71. Blaydes will face the rising contender Sergei Pavlovich, who has finished his last five octagon opponents. Nonetheless, the wrestler feels confident against the Russian, and he also feels confident against anyone in the division.

That would include heavyweight champion, Jon Jones. ‘Bones’ made his return last month at UFC 285, submitting Ciryl Gane in the first round to win gold in his debut at the weight class. While fans and critics were impressed by Jones, Blaydes still feels that he can take the newly crowned champion.

The heavyweight contender discussed the possible clash in a recent interview with MMA Fighting. There, Blaydes stated that he feels that he has all the tools to dethrone Jones. However, he’s not sure that the champion will get through Stipe Miocic later this year.

Curtis Blaydes discusses a possible fight against Jon Jones

“For all those reasons [I’m the toughest matchup]— I have the size, I have the wrestling, I have the athleticism, I have the speed, I have the agility,” Curtis Blaydes said. “I have all the things you need to match up with a talent like Jon Jones. I know he has the reach, his arms are longer than my reach. I would have to find a way to get in that zone type of range and I might have to use elbows, I might have to get in the clinch but I believe I could take him down. I believe once I take anyone down, the odds are in my favor.” (h/t MMA Fighting)

“I think if Jon wins, I think it will be a hard fight. He’s not just going to take him down and hit him with a guillotine. Stipe’s a smart fighter. He knows how to blend the wrestling with the striking. I know Jon does that also. So he’s going to have to approach the fight with a different mindset. This last fight, [Jones] knew Ciryl Gane didn’t have any idea how to grapple. I always have that in the back of my head. It gives you a sense of confidence. Like if anything gets hard, I’ll just grapple. He’s not going to have that with Stipe… I give Stipe a 50/50 chance of winning.”