Following his stunning knockout win over Sean Lally during the second season of Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, the 32-year-old thought for sure that he would be the next welterweight to tear it up in the UFC; however, Curtis wasn’t signed to the promotion, and decided to call it quits after an eleven year journey.
However, the 170-pound fighter would ultimately make his return to the octagon a year later and resume his dominate ways inside the octagon, but another huge setback came Curtis’ way as he would end up losing three bouts within the Professional Fighters League.
A year later, Curtis is hoping that signing with ARES FC will be a new beginning for the fighter and that’s thanks to his coach John Wood:
“It’s a combination of things,” Curtis told MMA Junkie. “John Wood, my head coach – we’ve had a lot of conversations about it, and he’s like, you’ve got to remember, in this last year, I’ve changed my entire life, I moved across the country, I’ve changed gyms. This was a very hard year for me. I went through a lot last year. So he’s like, ‘You went out there and you didn’t get what you wanted.’ But he’s like, ‘You’ve been fighting an uphill battle all year – give yourself a solid chance.
“And for me, I had never been knocked out. So like, that was probably the biggest blow to my pride ever, and that one hurt.”
His win over Darren Smith Jr. did more than just put another win in the record books, it helped rebuild up his confidence and made him decide to continue fighting inside the octagon:
“It was a much-needed step,” Curtis said. “I had to do some rebuilding, mentally get there. And so for me, it was just nice to get in there to see: OK, I got caught, it was a good shot, it was a very lucky shot – I got caught. It’s OK. I can go out there. I can get hit. I’m fine. I’m thinking, so it was just one of those things – you have to shake the nerves off.”
Check out the full interview where Curtis talks about signing with ARES FC, being turned down by the UFC, and so much more!