Roman Kopylov reacts to Chris Curtis' spying claims, apology before UFC Fight Night 249

LAS VEGAS – Roman Kopylov was stunned when Chris Curtis accused him of spying ahead of UFC Fight Night 249, but he’s relieved that sanity prevailed.

Prior to Saturday’s middleweight matchup at the UFC Apex (ESPN+), longtime veteran Curtis (31-11 MMA, 5-3 UFC) took to social media and pointed out that two unnamed fighters came into his gym at Xtreme Couture to train before appearing at another facility with Kopylov (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) just days later.

Shortly thereafter, however, Curtis spoke out again, stating the entire situation was a miscommunication, and retracted his claim. Kopylov said he has no ill will about what unfolded and revealed that Curtis apologized to him privately, as well.

“I was quite surprised,” Kopylov told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter at Wednesday’s media day. “These are not the type of things that I’m associated with, so I wasn’t sure where it was coming from. But afterward, I saw Chris in the locker room (at the UFC PI) when I was training, and he came up to me, and he was apologizing, and he said, ‘You know what, I was wrong. I was mistaken.’ He actually even put something out on Instagram since then, so it’s gone now.”

With the drama aside, Kopylov can now focus fully on the fight. It’s an important one for him, as he looks to build momentum from a split decision victory over Cesar Almeida at UFC 302 in June. That result put him back on track after a submission loss to Anthony Hernandez in February, which snapped a four-fight knockout streak in his favor.

Curtis is the most experienced opponent that Kopylov has faced to this point in his career, but he thinks it’s stylistically advantageous for him to come out with his hand raised.

I’ve seen a lot of tape on him and it seems as though he’s usually pretty much in the same – he’s got the same plan. He usually works out of fighting standing up and he’s fighting out of his stance. He’s a good striker. I think it’ll be a pretty fun fight. He doesn’t really wrestle. I don’t really wrestle. We’re two strikers and we’re expecting to show a pretty good fight.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 249.