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Whether you love it or hate it, trash talk is simply a part of sports. Curtis Blaydes understands that reality; prior to stepping into the octagon against Alexander Volkov, the heavyweight fighter told the world that he would ragdoll his opponent. While the Razor did win the fight, he didn’t exactly live up to his word, leading UFC president Dana White to criticize his attitude.

At the end of the day, though, Curtis Blaydes won’t mind. He’s laughing his way to the bank with a reported $180,000 in tow.

Curtis Blaydes’ impressive UFC career

There’s nothing worse than talking trash and failing to back it up. Over the course of his MMA career, though, Curtis Blaydes has shown plenty of talent as a fighter.

After wrestling through high school and college, Blaydes decided to make the switch to MMA. He quickly found success as an amateur fighter and turned pro in 2014; after five consecutive wins, he signed with the UFC in 2016.

Blaydes’ time in UFC began with a loss to Francis Ngannou, but that proved to be little more than a bump in the road. The Razor started building a name for himself in the octagon and climbing up the power rankings.

After dispatching Alexander Volkov on Saturday night, Blaydes has an all-time professional record of 14-2, with both defeats coming at the hands of Ngannou. He’s currently third in the official UFC pound-for-pound heavyweight rankings, only trailing Ngannou and Daniel Cormier.

Dana White didn’t appreciate the Razor’s trash talk

Coming into Saturday night’s fight, Curtis Blaydes talked about “ragdolling [his] opponent.” While he did defeat Alexander Volkov, he didn’t exactly live up to his threats; the Razor won by decision.

After the fight, Dana White pointed out that inconsistency. “I like Curtis Blaydes, but Curtis Blaydes has the wrong attitude as far as I’m concerned,” the UFC president said, according to Yahoo Sports.” I don’t have anything against the kid at all, [but] when you talk s–t like he talked this week, you better come in and whoop somebody’s a– when you talk s–t like that.”

White, however, wasn’t done there. He kept unloading on the heavyweight, saying that a win by decision is far from ragdolling your opponent.

“When you talk the s*** that he did and perform like he did tonight? You look stupid,” White continued. “Yeah, he won. He talked a lot of s–t coming in this week. I don’t think you talk the s–t he talked this week and come in and perform like that.”

Curtis Blaydes is laughing straight to the bank with a $180,000 win

While MMA fighters have to be incredibly tough, it’s never fun getting called out on the world stage by Dana White. Curtis Blaydes, however, probably won’t be too concerned about that.

“I know who I am now,” Blaydes said after the match, according to MMAJunkie. “I’m the heel. You don’t like what I do? I like to make you mad. I like to win. That’s probably the best part about this win, is I predicted this, and I did it. Twenty-five minutes. Didn’t look the best, but I’m OK with having a gritty win like that, and I know a lot of fans didn’t like it, and I’m OK with that. It makes me happy.”

His paycheck probably helped matters, too. According to MMAFighting.com, the Razor took home a disclosed $180,000 on Saturday night, not counting potential pay-per-view bonuses and sponsorship money; he earned $90,000 for the fight itself, and another $90,000 for the win.

On Saturday night, Curtis Blaydes won his fight, annoyed Dana White, and made almost $200,000. That’s not bad for a single night of work.

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Joe Kozlowski

Joe Kozlowski began his career as a sports journalist in 2013 and joined Sportscasting in 2019. He covers the NBA and soccer for Sportscasting, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he’s a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie.

Growing up loving Shaquille O’Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history — likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center — he’s continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives.

As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He’s barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe’s big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level.

Regardless of the sport, Joe is captivated by the stories of athletes beyond the box scores and how they push the envelope — both in terms of what we think a human is capable of accomplishing and how they find new competitive tactics to win.