Curtis Blaydes engaged in an all-time war with Josh Hokit at UFC 327 but he didn’t walk away unscathed from his potential Fight of the Year.
Both Blaydes and Hokit were transported to a local Miami hospital after the three-round slugfest for precautionary reasons.
The final diagnosis revealed that Blaydes suffered a fractured orbital bone and a broken nose as a result of his back-and-forth battle against Hokit. Blaydes’ management team confirmed the injuries to MMA Fighting on Sunday following an initial report from MMA Junkie.
Blaydes was released from the hospital and he’s expected to return home to Colorado soon to begin his recovery.
While he didn’t get the win on Saturday, Blaydes is going home with an extra $100,000 after he and Hokit earned Fight of the Night honors.
The epic brawl started and finished with Hokit charging after Blaydes and throwing a volume of strikes while displaying superior speed. But despite hurting Bladyes early, Hokit just couldn’t find the finishing shot to earn the knockout.
In return, Blaydes cracked Hokit with several nasty combinations of his own that put the ex-NFL player on wobbly legs several times during the fight.
The heavyweights combined for over 350 strikes landed and more than 640 thrown during the three round war. All three judges ultimately gave Hokit the fight with 29-28 scores across the board.
While obviously not the result he wanted, Blaydes found himself becoming a fan favorite during fight week as Hokit stayed in character as he shouted bizarre promos every time he touched a microphone and even ended up getting into a verbal altercation with UFC 327 headliner Jiri Prochazka.
The loss dropped Blaydes to 2-3 over his past five fights, which includes an interim title fight against Tom Aspinall back in 2024.
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