This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Curtis Blaydes Turns 30

A shot at the undisputed Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight crown has thus far eluded Curtis Blaydes, but he may finally be nearing the end of his pursuit. The Elevation Fight Team export turns 30 on Feb. 18—two days before he challenges Derrick Lewis in the UFC Fight Night 185 main event.

Blaydes wrestled collegiately at Northern Illinois University and later transferred to Harper College, a two-year institution in Palatine, Illinois, where he won a national championship as a redshirt sophomore. Soon after, he left school to pursue a career in mixed martial arts. Blaydes made his debut on May 31, 2014, knocked out his first five opponents and arrived in the UFC less than two years later. He has compiled a stellar 9-2 record inside the Octagon, his only losses having resulted from two ill-fated encounters with the monstrous Francis Ngannou. Blaydes will enter his high-stakes battle with Lewis on the strength of a four-fight winning streak. He last competed at UFC on ESPN 11, where he took a five-round unanimous decision from former Bellator MMA champion Alexander Volkov.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of February:

FEB. 1

Naoki Sano, 60
Kyle Sturgeon, 58
Bill Mahood, 54
Igor Pokrajac, 42
Chris Tickle, 39
Sam Sicilia, 35
Ronda Rousey, 34
Alan Baudot, 33
Jared Papazian, 33
Justin McNally, 30

FEB. 2

Bounmy Somchay, 48
Shigeyuki Uchiyama, 48
Hector Lombard, 43
Denis Stojnic, 41
Yusuke Kawanago, 38
Matt McCook, 36
Raul Amaya, 35
Herbert Burns, 33
Adlan Ibragimov, 32
Eric Shelton, 30

FEB. 3

Shad Smith, 48
Doug Marshall, 44
Rodrigo Damm, 41
Ricardo Tirloni, 38
Mei Yamaguchi, 38
Phillipe Nover, 37
Daniel Teymur, 33
Eduardo Dantas, 32
Damir Ismagulov, 30
Matt Ramirez, 28

FEB. 4

Johnathan Ivey, 45
Andrei Arlovski, 42
Igor Gracie, 41
Satoru Kitaoka, 41
Luiz Cane, 40
Yaotzin Meza, 40
Kristi Lopez, 38
Anvar Alizhanov, 32
Shamil Magomedov, 28
Alex da Silva Coelho, 25

FEB. 5

William Sriyapai, 49
Antoni Hardonk, 45
Lyle Beerbohm, 42
Johnny Cisneros, 41
Leonardo Santos, 41
Kyle Bochniak, 34
Bubba Jenkins, 33
Joaquim Silva, 31
Nah-Shon Burrell, 30
Adam Wieczorek, 29

FEB. 6

Jeff Bedard, 51
Waachiim Spiritwolf, 45
Vik Grujic, 44
Shinichi Kojima, 42
Mamoru Nakamura, 40
Vitaly Minakov, 36
Andrew Holbrook, 35
Ryan Hollis, 32
Khalil Rountree, 31
Aleksandar Rakic, 29

FEB. 7

Tra Telligman, 56
Mariusz Pudzianowski, 44
Tait Fletcher, 50
Haruo Ochi, 37
Derrick Lewis, 36
T.J. Dillashaw, 35
Lance Palmer, 33
Cesar Avila, 32
Jae Hyun So, 32
Ray Cooper III, 27

FEB. 8

Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, 1974-2016
Yuki Ishikawa, 54
Jaime Jara, 52
Dave Courchaine, 38
Chan Rothana, 35
Amber Leibrock, 33
Syuri Kondo, 32
Pawel Pawlak, 32
Makhmud Muradov, 31
Nikolas Motta, 28

FEB. 9

Hiroyuki Abe, 51
Chris Clements, 45
Tiki Ghosn, 44
Mark Munoz, 43
Tim Stout, 42
Charlie Brenneman, 40
Jake Hecht, 37
Henry Cejudo, 34
Felipe Arantes, 33
Darko Stosic, 29

FEB. 10

Paul Jones, 58
Masakazu Imanari, 45
Matt Horwich, 43
Nick Ring, 42
Mariusz Radziszewski, 37
Kamil Lebkowski, 33
Islam Mamedov, 31
Andres Ponce, 28
Modestas Bukauskas, 27
Raiymbek Orynbai, 27

FEB. 11

Evan Tanner, 1971-2008
Ken Shamrock, 57
Ali Mokdad, 38
Stephen Thompson, 38
Vagab Vagabov, 35
Andrea Lee, 32
Bec Rawlings, 32
Megan Anderson, 31
Petr Yan, 28
Nainoa Dung, 22

FEB. 12

Jon Madsen, 41
Eric Lawson, 40
Tony Ferguson, 37
Yosdenis Cedeno, 36
Joey Miolla, 36
Hunter Tucker, 35
Luke Jumeau, 33
Jessica Sotack, 30
Hailey Cowan, 29
Stefan Sekulic, 29

FEB. 13

Elvis Sinosic, 50
Dean Lister, 45
Anthony Lapsley, 41
Ewerton Teixeira, 39
Pedro Nobre, 35
James Bochnovic, 32
Kizaemon Saiga, 32
Dan Hooker, 31
Shawn Teed, 29
Pingyuan Liu

FEB. 14

Steve Vigneault, 43
Hiroshi Nakamura, 40
Oleg Borisov, 38
Kenny Robertson, 37
Ivan Buchinger, 35
Tyler McGuire, 35
Micah Miller, 34
Chris Mierzwiak, 33
Jayson Jones, 32
Montana De La Rosa, 26

FEB. 15

Ray Sefo, 51
David Baron, 48
Karla Benitez, 42
Thor Skancke, 38
Brian Rogers, 37
Alex Soto, 37
Cezar Ferreira, 36
Steven Siler, 34
Ciro Rodrigues, 32
Emiliano Sordi, 30

FEB. 16

Frank Caracci, 51
Carina Damm, 42
Zelg Galesic, 42
Logan Clark, 36
Mark Eddiva, 35
Andy Ogle, 32
Victoria Leonardo, 31
Vladimir Mineev, 31
Mirsad Bektic, 30
Matt Wagy, 29

FEB. 17

Ismael de Jesus, 41
Brett Rogers, 40
Will Ribeiro, 38
Ben Edwards, 37
Yoshitaka Naito, 37
Carrington Banks, 32
Manon Fiorot, 31
Andre Muniz, 31
Anatoly Tokov, 31
Gregory Rodrigues, 29

FEB. 18

Justin McCully, 45
Ross Pointon, 43
Jimi Manuwa, 41
Marvin Blumer, 39
Melvin Blumer, 39
Joseph Duffy, 33
Fabiano Silva da Conceicao, 33
Stefan Struve, 33
Marc-Andre Barriault, 31
Curtis Blaydes, 30

FEB. 19

Duke Roufus, 51
Chad Leonhardt, 41
Ben Alloway, 40
Liz Carmouche, 37
Ednaldo Oliveira, 37
Jarred Mercado, 36
Peter Queally, 32
Desiree Yanez, 31
Nam Jin Jo, 30
Emilee King, 28

FEB. 20

Antonio Inoki, 78
Phillip Miller, 42
Rousimar Palhares, 41
Cody Donovan, 40
Tim Means, 37
Derek Anderson, 31
Ottman Azaitar, 31
Damian Stasiak, 31
Natan Schulte, 29
Grant Dawson, 27

FEB. 21

Chris Kelades, 41
Paul Daley, 38
Kerry Hughes, 36
Shintaro Ishiwatari, 36
Alex Oliveira, 33
Roman Salazar, 33
Brian Ortega, 30
Brett Johns, 29
Matt Sayles, 27
Dakota Zimmerman, 25

FEB. 22

Wallid Ismail, 53
Gregor Herb, 43
Edgar Garcia, 37
Ryan Hall, 36
Colby Covington, 33
Kuat Khamitov, 33
Rob Wilkinson, 30
John Allan, 29
Ludovit Klein, 27
Michal Oleksiejczuk

FEB. 23

Ruan Potts, 43
Nick Cottone, 41
Gina Begley, 40
Mike Estus, 38
Robert Washington, 38
James Vick, 34
Jacob Silva, 33
Olivier Aubin-Mercier, 32
Mike Hofer, 31
Edson Gomez, 30

FEB. 24

Andre Roberts, 56
Bas Rutten, 56
Jon Fitch, 43
Vitor Ribeiro, 42
Nick Burgos, 41
Shinsuke Nakamura, 41
Fernando Bruno, 39
Jan Blachowicz, 38
Maiju Suotama, 35
Jordan Kaaze, 30

FEB. 25

Michael Quintero, 45
Marcos Rodrigues dos Santos, 45
Kelly Kobold-Schmitz, 38
Ron Stallings, 38
Jacob McClintock, 33
Cesar Gonzalez, 32
Meas Meu, 31
Rachael Ostovich, 30
Hisham Hiba, 29
Anthony Romero, 24

FEB. 26

Ricardo Morais, 54
John Lober, 53
Tomar Washington, 43
Gustavo Henrique Kuhn, 41
Satoshi Watanabe, 39
T.J. Grant, 37
Ken Hasegawa, 34
Kyle Frost, 33
Jeff Lentz, 32
Reant Febriza Rainir, 32

FEB. 27

Rob Lisita, 38
Michael Knaap, 37
Antonio Castillo Jr., 34
Misha Cirkunov, 34
Thibault Gouti, 34
Alex Munoz, 31
Jun Yong Park, 30
Sean Strickland, 30
Kyle Daukaus, 28
Laureano Staropoli, 28

FEB. 28

Jorge Rivera, 49
Khomkrit Niimi, 48
Mitch Chilson, 43
Michael Bisping, 42
Adam Antolin, 39
Vinicius Moreira, 32
Jarod Trice, 32
Glaico Franca, 30
Alesha Zappitella, 26
Xie Bin, 23

FEB. 29

Jim Yorke, 45
Francimar Barroso, 41
Patrick Cote, 41
Dashawn Boatwright, 33
David Putvin, 29