“Big Pretty” has quickly become known as an outspoken heavyweight during his time in the UFC, but for now, he says he’s going radio silent.
After a disappointing one-sided loss to Curtis Blaydes (11-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 6 event in Nashville, Justin Willis (8-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) took to social media to address his flat performance, and he says it will be the last you’ll hear of him for a bit (via Instagram):
This will be my last post until certain things are fixed with myself, and my team. I will remain humble as I am in victory and also in my very LAST defeat of my career. I will make 0 excuses but I must be honest with myself and my fans, I froze up! It will NEVER happen again.
Willis was a vocal critic of Blaydes coming into the matchup, openly calling his opponent boring both socially and stylistically. The brash approach backfired, with Blaydes smothering him for 15 minutes and taking home a lopsided result, with scores of 30-27, 30-26 and 30-25. The setback snapped an eight-fight winning streak for Willis.
Afterward, Blaydes admitted he found Willis disrespectful.
Willis’ brash attitude garnered him much pre-fight attention, but he’s also developed a set of detractors, as well. Among those is Australian heavyweight Tai Tuivasa, who has made it clear he’ll fight “Big Pretty” in or out of the cage after the two clashed this past December during the week of Willis’ clash with Tuivasa teammate Mark Hunt.
After seeing the results of Saturday’s fight, Tuivasa didn’t hold back (via Twitter):
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 6, check out the UFC Events section of the site.
