No one will argue with Curtis’ work ethic, which took him through the regional scene, a win on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2018 that didn’t garner him a contract, and finally, the short-notice call to the UFC that saw him cash in with a first-round knockout of Phil Hawes in 2021. That win in Madison Square Garden made all the trials and tribulations worth it.
For a minute. Then it was back to work, because he didn’t want to lose what he worked so hard to get. Yeah, it was that fear again, something that’s been a blessing as much as a curse.
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“I credit it for giving me the discipline that’s gotten me this far and what carries me,” he said. “Because motivation fades. Everything else fades. But that fear has taught me a certain discipline that will get you up. Everybody says I overtrained too much, I trained more than anybody. But it’s that crippling fear of failure that keeps me moving and doesn’t let me stop. At the same time. I’m like, man, my life would be so much better if I could just be like some people and accept ‘Oh, well, what happens happens.’ I can’t accept that mentality. It terrifies me. But my life would be so much better if I could.”
Curtis chuckles, recalling his daily conversations with teammate Sean Strickland,
“He’s like, ‘You do too much.’ And he’s a guy who can train once a day and be happy. I’m a guy who’s got to train four or five times a day and I’m still like, ‘Man, maybe I should be doing more.’”
