UFC Fight Night 205: Curtis Blaydes vs. Chris Daukaus Picks and Predictions

Curtis Blaydes and Chris Daukaus face off on Saturday in a heavyweight showdown in the main event of UFC Fight Night 205 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. 

Curtis Blaydes comes into this fight with a 15-3 record overall and he has won five of his last six fights. Blaydes last fight came against Jairzinho Rozenstruik in September of 2021 and it was a dominant victory. He outstruck Rozenstruik 32-18 and he had three takedowns. The one loss was two fights ago against Derrick Lewis and it was early in the second round that he was knocked out. Blaydes is averaging 3.44 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 1.65 significant strikes per minute. Blaydes wants to get the fight to the ground averaging 6.27 takedowns every 15 minutes. He is successful on 53 percent of his takedown attempts and he stops 33 percent of his opponent's takedown attempts. 

On the other side of this matchup is Chris Daukaus who should have the fans behind him in this fight. Daukaus comes into this fight with a 12-4 record overall and he had won four fights in a row before losing against Derrick Lewis in his last fight. Daukaus got out to a slow start, and he was knocked out midway through the first round. Daukaus is averaging 7.71 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 3.51 significant strikes per minute. Daukaus wants to keep the fight on the feet and he won’t be trying a takedown in this game. He also stops 100 percent of his opponents takedown attempts. In the last fight Daukaus got out to a slow start and he didn’t seem very engaged in the fight, and that is something that can’t happen in this fight. Daukaus is also going to need to find a way to keep the fight on the feet and limit the takedown attempts of Blaydes.