It was probably a good thing that Chris
Curtis wasn’t allowed to continue in his middleweight clash
with Nassourdine
Imavov at UFC
289.

“The Action Man” suffered a significant cut near his right eye
following a clash of heads with his opponent in the second round of
their preliminary bout in Vancouver on Saturday. After a brief
pause, it was determined that Curtis couldn’t continue and the
fight was ruled a no contest at the 3:04 mark of Round 2.

Curtis later revealed the extent of his injuries on social
media.

“[Ten] stitches and a possible corneal abrasion,” Curtis wrote on
Twitter. “In 40 fights I’ve never not been able to continue. I’m
genuinely sorry guys. I really wanted to do something special for
Canada. I’ll be back guys.”

It was the second consecutive fight for Curtis in which a clash of
heads altered the course of the bout. At UFC 287, Kelvin
Gastelum nearly finished their fight following the collision in
Round 2, though Curtis would ultimately go on to lose a unanimous
decision. At UFC 289, Curtis wanted more time to recover but wasn’t
given that option by referee Jason Herzog.

“So tonight we learned that headbutts and head clashes are treated
in fundamentally different ways,” Curtis wrote. “There is no
mandatory allowance for head clashes. I thought it was the same
[five] minutes? Learn something new every day. Regardless I have
never not been able to continue in 40 fights. I’ve been cut, I’ve
been rocked and I’ve been hurt in fights. But losing my vision and
not immediately getting it back is something new to me. As much as
I want to fight on I just thought I had a little more time to let
my eye clear.”

After breakthrough stretch in which he won eight consecutive fights
— including three in UFC competition — from January 2020 to June
2022, Curtis has just one win in his last three promotional
appearances.





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Accidental Headbutt Led to 10 Stitches, Possible Corneal Abrasion for Chris Curtis