Athletes
Chris Curtis Wants To Take It Into The Trenches
After Batting Through A Frustrating Run Of Injuries, Chris Curtis Is Hunting One Thing In 2025: Momentum
Mixed martial artists are among the toughest professional athletes on the planet. But even the most hardened veterans can be brought to a standstill by injuries, and that’s exactly what happened to Chris Curtis last year.
Curtis hasn’t fought since a split decision loss to Brendan Allen last April, and he returns to action this weekend at UFC Fight Night: Ribas vs. Dern 2 in Las Vegas feeling grateful to be back in the mix again after so long away.
“Being injured sucks, so it's nice to be feeling good and back on a fight card,” he told UFC.com.
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“I’m not used to being out for so long, so it's really nice just be back in the swing of things.”
The “Action-Man” was ruled out of action by a pair of back-to-back injuries that left him frustrated at his situation and, to a degree, at himself.
“Hamstring first. I shredded my hamstring, and then I recovered from that really fast,” he explained.
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“They were like, ‘Oh, eight months.’ I did it in four, because I'm special, and then I immediately broke my foot due to my own hubris! So yeah, it’s just nice to be healed and ready to go.”
That second injury, which occurred as he threw himself back into physical activity again, left him mentally kicking himself as he had to exercise the sort of patience we haven’t seen too often from him in his career.
Highlight: Chris Curtis Stuns Phil Hawes In The First Round | UFC 268
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Highlight: Chris Curtis Stuns Phil Hawes In The First Round | UFC 268
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Curtis isn’t happy unless he’s active – he once fought six times in a calendar year back in 2021 – so suffering a second injury immediately after recovering from the first was the stuff of nightmares, as he explained.
“Oh, it's maddening! It's absolutely maddening, man,” he said.
MORE FIGHT NIGHT: Ponzinibbio Hungry | Moisés' Best | Dern Interview | Harris Interview | Ribas Interview | Bashi's Time | Medić Interview
“I’m not somebody who likes to do rehab. I don't like PT. I wasn’t really a big recovery person. So having to suddenly stop doing the things I do, and take a step back and focus on rehab, PT, and then my recovery, was absolutely maddening.
“But, it turns out, it actually may have helped me. I feel a lot better, my body feels better. I had some time to work on rebuilding my body and just taking care of myself, which I've managed to ignore for like, 37 years. So it feels nice to feel good again. I forgot that. I honestly forgot that I could feel good!”
With the enforced layoff providing him with some time to fully rest, recover and heal some nagging bumps and bruises along the way, Curtis is in great shape heading into this weekend’s event at the UFC APEX, where he’ll take on Roman Kopylov, who has won five of his last six bouts inside the Octagon.
“He’s dynamic, man. He's not bad anywhere at all,” said Curtis.
“He's getting better at wrestling, his grappling is okay. Really good striker, really clean one-two, really good, accurate body kick, really fast, powerful head kick. He's not bad anywhere.
“But this is my 44th professional fight, 10th in the UFC. I fought great strikers. I fought great kickboxers, boxers. I fought great wrestlers. I fought great jiu-jitsu guys, MMA guys, judo guys. I fought some capoeira and kung fu guys.
“I’ve got more experience than most people in this company. I'm very hard to surprise. And I think, at the end of the day, as skilled as he is, I think I like fighting way more than he does.”
This fight offers Curtis the chance to check two boxes at the start of the year. First, he gets to return to competitive action for the first time in nine months, and second, it’s an opportunity to bounce back into the win column and start to build some momentum at the start of what Curtis hopes will be a busy year.
“Starting this year off well is very, very important,” he said.
“The last few fights have just been weird. I haven't really had the best luck with judges in the UFC all the time. There's a couple fights where, I’m 5-3 with 1 no contest (in the UFC). I think I should be 7-2, honestly.
“It’s so important for me, just for my own well-being, to know that, OK, I am good enough to be here, I belong here, and just to get good momentum. Because I don't care who you are in this sport, momentum matters. And it's really hard.
“It sucks that when you start building momentum, and then maybe you lose it because judging is judging, or just weird stuff happens in fights. So I really want to have a good 2025.
“Being hurt last year sucked. I lost eight months of not being able to fight. I want to get three or four fights in this year, minimum. And I think that starts with a good win here, just building momentum, keeping my momentum running.”
To do that, he’ll have to hand Kopylov only his fourth career defeat. As you’d expect from a seasoned veteran of the game, Curtis has his man well scouted, and says there’s a clear route to victory on Saturday night.
“At the end of the day, I'm just gonna keep applying more and more pressure. I'm not gonna stop. I'm always gonna be there in his face,” he said.
“I think I like violence, I like fighting, I like brutality more than he does. So, I think, at the end of the day, the longer this fight goes on, the more I make him work, the more I drag him into that trench warfare, he's not gonna like it.
“I'm hoping we get into a trench fight. The APEX is a small cage. I'm hoping to get into that fight. I don't care if it’s on the ground or standing. I just want to fight, and I think it’s going to be a knock-down, drag-out fight.”
UFC Fight Night: Dern vs Ribas 2 took place live from UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada on January 11, 2025. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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