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For Curtis Blaydes, UFC 226 delivered brief elation – then understandable rage

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One man’s suckfest is apparently another man’s ticket to a UFC heavyweight title shot – briefly, anyway.

In Saturday’s UFC 226 pay-per-view co-headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Derrick Lewis (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) edged fellow contender Francis Ngannou (11-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) via unanimous decision in a fight that, for lack of a better description, stunk up the joint.

Lewis, who entered the bout as the No. 12 fighter in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings, likely could’ve jumped the line of contenders with his victory over No. 2-ranked Ngannou. But the action-light fight was so bad – UFC President Dana White called it an “abomination” – that you’re unlikely to see either fighter vying for a belt in the near future (Lewis discusses it in the video above).

That fact wasn’t lost on No. 5-ranked Curtis Blaydes (10-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC), who’s on a five-fight winning streak (with three knockouts, including a recent one over Alistair Overeem) since a UFC-debut loss to Ngannou in 2016.

Following Saturday’s co-main-event snoozefest, Blaydes weighed in on his apparent good fortune (via Twitter):

Of course, the promising 27-year-old contender didn’t know what was about to come one fight later. In UFC 226’s headliner, light-heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier (21-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC) dethroned Stipe Miocic (18-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) via first-round knockout to claim the heavyweight belt.

But instead of Blaydes or another active heavyweight getting the next shot, former champ and current pro-wrestling star Brock Lesnar (5-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC), who hasn’t won a fight since 2010, went full WWE for an in-cage confrontation and set up an upcoming bout with “DC.”

Blaydes, of course, was a bit miffed (via Twitter):

Hang in there, “Razor.”

For more on UFC 226, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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