Jan Blachowicz’s journey again to the UFC title acquired off to an odd begin. However the former champ will definitely take it.
Blachowicz defeated Aleksandar Rakic by way of TKO at 1:11 of the third spherical after Rakic suffered an damage to his knee. Blachowicz landed a mix and Rakic took a step again. When he planted his left, rear leg, the knee appeared to provide out. Rakic went down instantly and referee Mark Smith stepped in to name the bout off.
Earlier within the week, Blachowicz described his want to get again the UFC gentle heavyweight title just like the character Gollum from the Lord of the Rings films making an attempt to acquire the ring. In a division the place wins aren’t straightforward to come back by, Blachowicz wasn’t feeling too ashamed about this victory. And he was performing effectively main into the end.
“He had an damage, it’s what it’s,” Blachowicz stated in his postfight interview. … “I can’t wait to step inside once more with such a feeling, with this pleasure. And I hope the UFC provides me the following title shot.”
This was Blachowicz’s first struggle since dropping the UFC gentle heavyweight title to Glover Teixeira by way of second-round submission at UFC 267 final October. Coming in, ESPN had Blachowicz at No. 2 and Rakic at No. 5 on the planet at gentle heavyweight.
Blachowicz had a ton of success within the first spherical along with his low leg kicks to Rakic’s left calf. By the top of the spherical, Rakic had swelling and several other hematomas on that calf. Rakic went for a takedown and acquired it within the second spherical, seemingly due to his compromised his lead leg was changing into.
“That is our secret weapon,” Blachowicz stated. “Within the health club, we at all times kick it. … I knew that he was slowing down, slowing down, slowing down.”
Rakic opened up a lower on the within of Blachowicz’s left eye within the first spherical with a pleasant jab and did strong work on the bottom within the second. Within the third, Blachowicz was doing effectively on the toes, touchdown a punching mixture – a left hook to the physique and and overhand proper to the top — with success, plus the leg kicks.
Blachowicz (28-9) had a five-fight profitable streak snapped by Teixeira final 12 months. The Poland native knocked out Dominick Reyes to win the UFC gentle heavyweight title at UFC 253 in September 2020 after which defended it efficiently in opposition to middleweight champ Israel Adesanya at UFC 259 in March 2021. Blachowicz, 39, has gained 10 of his final 12 fights.
Rakic (14-3) was coming off a unanimous determination win over Thiago Santos at UFC 259 and had gained two straight previous to Saturday. The Austria native of Serbian descent has gained six of eight UFC fights general. Rakic, 30, has been thought-about one of many high MMA prospects popping out of Central Europe.
