UFC veteran Chris Curtis has had a rough couple of bouts, and the whole ordeal is beginning to get to the fighter.
“Action Man” has spent decades in MMA and has been with the UFC since 2009. The 37-year-old has a pro record of 31-12-0 1NC and was ranked 15 in UFC middleweight but due to the fluctuations in his bouts the fight is currently unranked. Despite recent inconsistencies, Curtis has been a formidable opponent in the cage and has battled and defeated top fighters like Ron Keslar, Kevin Powers, Eric Jordan, and Kyle Stewart. Although Curtis has been a long-time partner with UFC and has won many bouts, it seems the fight has been in a slump for the past three years.
The highs and lows in the fighter’s winning ways began when he faced Jack Hermansson and lost following a unanimous decision in 2022. Although the fighter was disappointed with his loss, he picked himself up and prepared for battle with Joaquin Buckley. Curtis emerged victorious after a barrage of strikes and won the bout via TKO in round two. The fight was eager to stick with the momentum, but unfortunately, he lost his next bout with Kelvin Gastelum the following year. His next fight was a non-contest match against Nassourdine Imavov. His successive win was a split decision win over Marc-Andre Barriault in 2024, but since then, Curtis has suffered a back-to-back loss to Brendan Allen, and his most recent is a head-kick loss to Roman Kopylov.
The back-to-back losses have been a source of disappointment for the fighter, and his most recent to Kopylov was a bit controversial as the referee called off the fight five seconds into the final round, which seemed a bit early seeing as how the bout was already about to come to an end. The fighter was initially upset about the score. Still, after seeing the scorecard and realising Kopylov was already leading, Curtis resigned with the referee’s decision and plans on moving forward. The fighter says his last match may be his last in middleweight as he plans on dropping down to his original weight class–welterweight–.
In an Instagram post following his loss, the fighter expressed his feelings about his loss and told fans his plans for the future.
“Only job in the world where you can make 200k in a night and still be absolutely heartbroken and questioning where you go from here. No damage, I’m fine. Probably train tomorrow for my sanity but just frustrated and heartbroken. 8 months off. Hamstring tear, broken foot and then a calf tear. Trained through it all. Never lost sight of the goal. Just hurts to come up short.
“Thank you to everyone who reached out, have had a lot of love online and in person, it means the world to me. I guess I should take some comfort in fight of the night, but I only view tonight as a failure. Maybe 170 is the way to go from here. Rest this weekend and I guess we have a talk with the team and management about what comes next. It thanks again to @mickmaynard2 for the opportunity to do what I love.
“I’m not sure who or where I would be without this. Thank you to the @ufcpi , you guys put me back together 3 times this year. It was an incredibly hard road back, but @gav_pratt and @heatherlinden and their teams really went above and beyond for me, and I will never not be grateful for that. For now, thankfully, we are uninjured and healthy. We work on figuring out what comes next. Thank you everyone at @xcmma, @77natepettitmma_ , @eric_xcmma and @jayhieron for being there for me tonight. Thank you @lancespaude, you really are my brother and I love you. There are a lot of people I won’t name here but thank you all. And I’ll see you when I see you.”
Fans hope this new weight class change will positively change the fighter’s career and bring back the “Action Man” of old.
