Chris Curtis contemplates welterweight return after last-second TKO loss at UFC Fight Night 249
After a couple hours for the result to sink in, Chris Curtis said he’s not hurting, at least physically, after his last-second TKO loss to Roman Kopylov.
Kopylov (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) finished Curtis (31-12 MMA, 5-4 UFC) literally with one second left in their middleweight fight at UFC Fight Night 249 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. But immediately upon the stoppage, Curtis protested that he wasn’t knocked out – and that the fight should have continued.
The fact of the matter is, had referee Mark Smith not stopped the fight when he did – after a big punch from Kopylov sat Curtis down, and Kopylov started to walk away – there only would have been one more second, anyway. Curtis wouldn’t have had time to mount any offense, but he would have seen the judges’ scorecards.
Those scorecards had Kopylov up 2-0 in rounds from two of the judges and 1-1 from a third, so even if Curtis was allowed to survive, and had somehow won Round 3 from each judge – debatable given he was taken down earlier in the round and knocked down and nearly out with seconds left – he would have lost a split decision. The bout got Curtis an extra $50,000 for Fight of the Night on top of what he said was a $200,000 payday for the loss.
Curtis posted on Instagram in the aftermath and appeared to be less upset with Smith’s stoppage compared to seconds after the fight, but also said he’ll be thinking about what his next move might be.
It could be, he said, at 170 pounds instead of middleweight. Curtis toggled between welterweight and 185 pounds a decade ago. He even fought at light heavyweight in a one-off before he made his way to the UFC.
“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. Thank you everyone at @xcmma, @77natepettitmma_ , @eric_xcmma and @jayhieron for being there for me tonight. Thank you @lancespaude, you really are my brother and I love you. There are a lot of people I won’t name here but thank you all. And I’ll see you when I see you.”
Curtis won four of his first five UFC fights, including three by knockout. But in the past two years, he’s lost three of four and had a no contest, to boot. His Fight of the Night loss to Kopylov came on the heels of a split decision loss to Brendan Allen in April 2024 and the aforementioned injury and rehab issues in the second half of the past year.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 249.