LAS VEGAS – Chris Curtis had a plan in place to take a break from MMA to rebuild his body. Then the phone rang.
After Marvin Vettori suffered an injury that forced him out of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 240 headliner with Brendan Allen (23-5 MMA, 11-2 UFC) at the UFC Apex (ESPN+), the promotion called Curtis (31-10 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and offered him a replacement opportunity.
“We were not supposed to fight,” Curtis told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “We had an agreement with caches. Like my strength coaches and everything else like, ‘OK, we’re going to stay at ’85 (and not drop to welterweight). We’re going to put on some weight.’ I’m walking around at 200 pounds and wanted to get to 210, put on muscle and be 210, be a little bit bigger. Then this happened. So I was like, ‘OK, we’re abandoning that plan, and we have a new plan.’ Here we are.”
Although Curtis vocalized his desire to get a main event fight at the UFC Apex in an interview with MMA Junkie Radio following his win over Marc-Andre Barriault at UFC 297, he wasn’t expecting it to come so quick.
The UFC sweetened the pot for him to agree, too, so Curtis simply couldn’t say no.
“I deeply enjoy money,” Curtis said. “I will do awful, awful things for money, when you offer to pay me and I love to fight. I love to fight more than anything else. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: I’d rather fight than f*ck, honestly. This is what I do.”
For Curtis, the rematch with Allen is a compelling opportunity. Curtis won the initial meeting at UFC on ESPN 31 in December 2021, storming Allen for a second-round TKO upset to win Performance of the Night honors.
Since that fight, Curtis is 3-2 with one no contest. Allen, meanwhile, has reeled off six consecutive victories – five by stoppage – to surge past Curtis in the rankings.
It would be significant for Curtis to repeat the feat this weekend, and he thinks getting this victory is more important for the trajectory of his career than it is for Allen’s.
“Brendan’s a dog,” Curtis said. “He’s done really well since we fought last time. Brendan’s 27. My god, I wish I was 27. At 27 years old, I can’t imagine the things he’s going to accomplish in this sport. He’s got 10 more years left in him at the earliest, so he’s going to accomplish big things, man. It’s going to be crazy. But this is a chance for me.
“I’ll be 37 this year. I don’t have time to do the slow way. I’m not going to have a 10-year career in the UFC. So, anytime I get those opportunities to see a number above mine and take it, I’ve got to take it. This is one of those times.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 240.
