Curtis Blaydes and WCO showcase how the UFC heavyweight division is dead

The heavyweight division has always been eligible for a lot of criticism as far as fight quality is concerned in MMA because once we get to people that are this heavy, there simply aren't very many people that can keep up a pace that would be considered show-worthy. There are exceptions to this rule, but unfortunately they are few and far between. The days of Brock Lesnar, Roy Nelson, Stipe Miocic, and of course Francis Ngannou (who quit while on top), well these days are well behind us at this point and while there is always going to be talk about Tom Aspinal and Jon Jones, these guys haven't fought in a while and I wonder if they really even want to.

There is always a lot of talk about it, but the fact remains that most people just don't get excited about ANY heavyweight fights anymore because the entertainment factor simply isn't there.

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UFC Noche events are never exactly something to get grandma out of bed for, but in this particular showcase, the heavyweight fight was one of the most boring that I personally have ever seen.

Curtis Blaydes in my mind is a has been or even worse, a "never was." he is a big guy that has a highlight reel of rather lucky looking one-shot KO's but for the most part I think he is merely handing on to being in the UFC at all because he can get a reasonable payday on even minor events simply because there isn't anyone to fight.

Waldo Cortes-Acosta was an up-and-comer at one point, with the UFC clearly hoping he would be the next savior of the division, but that simply hasn't panned out. I feel as though this fight was specifically set up to have Blaydes lose to give WCO another chance at a push for the top, and I think Blaydes knew this as well. In response to this suspected setup, Blaydes completely altered his usual fight strategy of looking for big punches and instead spend the entire fight hugging, wrestling, and going for takedowns.

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The problem with the striking in this match wasn't that it wasn't powerful. The problem was that there was so little of it being utilized by either guy. There was very little output of any sort as both of the guys seemed to be looking for a counterstrike opportunity and in the meantime they just ended up dancing around a lot. The crowd rained down boos throughout the match, and continued to do so when Blaydes was announced as the decision victor.

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I don't think anyone was particularly surprised when Blaydes was announced as the unanimous decision victor. I think most people simply didn't care. The crowd and people watching live just wanted it to be over.

Blaydes had a strategy going into this to secure a victory and he did so by toying around on his feet and then getting a takedown here and there. Then as is often the case with wrestlers, he proceeded to do exactly zero damage on the ground. This is considered "ground control time" and unfortunately it has an impact on judges scorecards. If the only thing you are interested in as a fighter is to get a "W" on your record, this is a pretty effective way to accomplish it.

Blaydes almost certainly has no notions of getting a shot at the belt, but who knows. That division is so damn boring that they may as well give it to him. Aspinal keeps holding out for the Jon Jones fight that due to monetary reasons is never going to happen, and Ciryl Gane is a champion that is normally so boring that people tend to forget that he is the champion.

I don't even know what UFC can do to rectify this situation. It seems as though they dumped so much stock into hoping that Jon Jones was going to breathe life into the HW division (and possible convince Ngannou to return as a consequence) that they don't really have any other plan.

In the meantime get settled in for at least another year of boredom as far as the big boys are concerned, because there simply isn't anyone entertaining in the division at all.

When we start seeing guys aiming for decision victories, which was clearly Blaydes' objective here, I think we can say that the division is dead. It needs to be scrapped IMO. It wont happen but I wouldn't mind if they just fired everyone and started over. Nobody even cares about Heavyweight fights anymore, and this performance yesterday simply added more credibility to anyone that feels that way.