UFC middleweight Chris Curtis could be committing to a major change following his latest setback.
Curtis was among the fighters tasked with kicking things off for the mixed martial arts leader in 2025, as he got his campaign for the year underway Saturday at the Apex in Las Vegas.
After narrowly falling short in a main event rematch opposite Brendan Allen last April — and subsequently requiring a lengthy stint on the sidelines to heal from injuries — “Action Man” was looking to bounce back at the expense of Roman Kopylov.
He was unable to do so, however, with the Russian emerging victorious from a highly entertaining affair. The end came by way of a perfectly timed head kick that saw Curtis stopped with just one second remaining on the clock.
Though the American was furious with the stoppage and berated referee Mark Smith, the knockdown had no doubt sealed a certain decision victory for Kopylov had the scorecards been required.
That was seemingly acknowledged by Curtis, who made no mention or complaint of the finish during his first post-fight statement on Instagram. The 37-year-old instead spoke on his own failure to have his hand raised, and he admitted the result may have signaled the end of his journey at 185 pounds.
“Only job in the world where you can make 200k in a night and still be absolutely heartbroken and questioning where you go from here. No damage, I’m fine. Probably train tomorrow for my sanity but just frustrated and heartbroken. 8 months off. Hamstring tear, broken foot and then a calf tear. Trained through it all. Never lost sight of the goal. Just hurts to come up short. Thank you to everyone who reached out, have had a lot of love online and in person, it means the world to me. I guess I should take some comfort in fight of the night, but I only view tonight as a failure.
“Maybe 170 is the way to go from here. Rest this weekend and I guess we have a talk with the team and management about what comes next. It thanks again to @mickmaynard2 for the opportunity to do what I love. I’m not sure who or where I would be without this. Thank you to the @ufcpi , you guys put me back together 3 times this year. It was an incredibly hard road back, but @gav_pratt and @heatherlinden and their teams really went above and beyond for me, and I will never not be grateful for that. For now, thankfully, we are uninjured and healthy. We work on figuring out what comes next.”
The fact he took home an additional $50,000 for earning Fight of the Night honors was evidently of little consolation for Curtis, who now has just one win across his last five fights.
Curtis began his UFC career with a 3-0 run that included memorable knockouts of Phil Hawes and Allen.
Having subsequently failed to achieve similar consistency after breaking into the rankings, “Action Man” could return to the welterweight division, where he previously held a number of regional titles and fought at under the PFL banner.
