That’s the mindset he carries with him into this weekend’s bout with Daukaus, who enters off his own stoppage loss to Lewis, and the approach he’s worked from since his days as a standout wrestler in college.
“When you wrestle at heavyweight, you’re gonna to get some slobs, you get some guys who aren’t that good, and you’re gonna to get some guys that are like Ngannou,” said Blaydes. “You’re gonna get a bunch of types of heavyweight, and I apply the same game plan to every guy; sometimes it works and sometimes it don’t.
“I don’t change up my mindset or my goals or anything from fight-to-fight,” he added. “The same mindset I had against Mark Hunt, Alistair (Overeem), Junior Dos Santos, Francis Ngannou — both times — and Jairzinho; it’s always the same mindset.
WATCH: Free Fight: Curtis Blaydes vs Junior dos Santos
“If you change up your mindset, that means you’re being emotional and you’re allowing an opponent to dictate how you feel.”
A lot of people talk about only focusing on the things they can control, only to turn around and fixate on myriad things that are out of their grasp, but Blaydes has shown time and again that he’s a man of his word in that regard.
The last fight, the last loss, or the online chatter — he can’t do anything about any of it now, so he’s not going to waste any energy on any of it.
