Chris Curtis Calls Hermansson Loss ‘Learning Experience,’ Hopes to Face Him Again

Surging Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight Chris Curtis learned a lot from his only promotional defeat to date.

Curtis (30-9, 4-1 UFC) ended 2022 on a high note, smashing Joaquin Buckley in the second frame of their UFC 282 encounter. Since joining the UFC in 2021, “The Action Man” has delivered three finishes as well as a decision victory over Rodolfo Vieira. The only stumbling block former CES MMA champion Curtis has encountered on his path thus far was Jack Hermansson, who outstruck Curtis en route to a unanimous decision victory in the UFC Fight Night 208 co-headliner in July. Curtis accepted that matchup on short notice, and confesses that he could have been wiser in his approach to the fight. At the same time, Curtis hopes to have the chance to meet “The Joker” again inside the Octagon someday.

“That's my only shadow on the year. It's a learning experience. I can do a lot of things, man. I'm pretty amazing, but apparently, for me at that moment, two weeks just wasn't enough time, you know? Slow down, be smarter, don't be afraid to say, ‘Hey man, I need more time to do something.’ It's a learning experience, but at the end of the day, I've lost before that fight and I'm sure I'll lose again after that fight at some point. You can't let the losses stop you. It happens, you grow up from [it] and you keep going.”

(00:00) Intro
(00:23) Running some mouthpiece tests at the UFC PI
(01:41) The most impactful days of his training week
(02:47) Scoring finishes in December
(03:54) Defeating Buckley
(04:39) Being ranked
(05:56) Wishing to have been smarter for the Hermansson fight
(06:58) His biggest takeaway from the Hermansson clash
(07:58) Hoping to face Hermansson again
(08:41) Sparring with Sean Strickland
(09:10) Commenting on Strickland vs. Cannonier
(10:11) His plans for 2023
(11:42) The presents Santa brought to Chris’ children
(12:45) Aiming to train in Thailand in 2023
(13:27) Outro