Looking back on his 2017 overall, there’s not much welterweight Chris Curtis can complain about.
Last year Curtis picked up three wins in three fights, and aside from how he picked up a victory in his last bout, things went about as good as they possibly could have inside the cage for him.
“2017 was a good year,” Curtis told MMAWeekly.com. “Everything went well. I feel I performed pretty well.
“Two of those (wins) were finishes, and the third (victory against Peter Grajcar) should have been a finish, but it didn’t because I got my walk off KO taken from me. But it was a good year. I felt strong. I wanted to have more fights, but a bunch of stuff fell through, but I’m happy with it.”
2017 was particularly satisfying as Curtis was coming off a controversial loss to Nah-shon Burrell at CES 34 in mid-2016 and was able to put together a strong winning streak after.
“It’s a good bounce back,” said Curtis. “I’m on a four-fight winning streak right now. Had I not been robbed in the Nah-shon fight, I would be on an eight-fight winning streak. Everybody pretty much thinks I could be in the UFC, so I had some bad luck right there.
“I’m on the winning streak, getting more exposure, and it’s adding to the pressure now to where I have to keep performing and do well, but luckily for me I thrive under the pressure. Last year was a nice bounce back after that really questionable loss, and it’s given me a trajectory that I’m going to try to keep going.”
Curtis (15-5) will defend his title in a 170-pound main event championship match against Jason Norwood (18-4) at CES 49 on Friday in Lincoln, R.I.
“He’s probably one my least favorite types of fights to deal with,” Curtis said of Norwood. “He’s a really good grinding wrestler, with good cage pressure. He’s got a lot of decisions, but I don’t know if he can go five rounds. I know I can fight five rounds. I’ve been five rounds.
“I can’t let him lead. I have to stay aggressive. I can’t be too worried about the takedown. I have to trust my Jiu-Jitsu and trust my wrestling. I’ve got to keep pressure on him and break him down.”
While it appears Curtis could make a move up to the next level sometime this year, he’s not going to bank everything on that, but rather focus on each fight he has and go from there.
“I’m in a position where I could have been there, but the Burrell fight set me back,” said Curtis. “After every fight everybody tells me (the UFC) should be calling, but they’re not calling.
“Who knows? At this point I’m not really holding my breath. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing and finish this year out strong. We’ll finish this year out, review, and go from there.”
