Jan Blachowicz admittedly would have preferred a clean finish against Aleksandar Rakic in the UFC on ESPN 36 main event, but the Polish light heavyweight was nonetheless pleased with the final result.
The fight ended prematurely when Rakic suffered an apparent right knee injury while stepping backward, and the bout was halted immediately at the 1:11 mark of Round 3. The matchup was competitive to that point, with Blachowicz having success on the feet in Round 1 and Rakic controlling positioning following a takedown in the second frame. Blachowicz made a point at Saturday’s post-fight press conference that durability is part of being a successful fighter — and he had the obvious edge in that category on Saturday night at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
“Of course, I’m a fighter, I’m a warrior. It’s better when you win by TKO, KO, submission, clean,” Blachowicz said. “But my body was tougher tonight, that’s it. End of story. I was ready for third, fourth, five rounds — he was not.”
While there was still much to be decided if Rakic hadn’t gone down with the unfortunate injury, Blachowicz was pleased with the way things were unfolding up to that point.
“I see that his chin was much bigger and he was slowing down and he was changing positions. So I knew that he was starting to feel the kicks. That was one of my game plans,” Blachowicz said. “I wanted to kick these legs because his position is very low and he has long legs and it’s hard when you’ve got low position to block it. I want to focus him on my hands and kicks, to make him slow down — he also has power in his legs, so I want to take it away. I think that was working very good.”
While Rakic is facing a potentially lengthy rehabilitation process following Saturday’s fight, Blachowicz didn’t emerge completely unscathed. The former light heavyweight champion suffered a cut under his left eye that appeared to develop when Rakic landed a stiff jab in the first round. Blachowicz was bothered by the injury for the rest of the period and later revealed that it will require a corrective procedure.
“It’s OK, but I’m going to have some small surgery Monday on this eye,” Blachowicz said. “The doctor said maybe it’s going to be small or maybe it’s going to be bigger, he doesn’t know yet. He’s going to check in the hospital.
“I have to check it [how it happened]. I don’t know. That was in the beginning of the first round one of the first punches, I don’t see anything in the first round in this eye. But I have to check it. My coach said it was a finger. Aleksandar said it was a punch. I don’t know. I will check and give you an answer.”
For Blachowicz, it was important to return to the win column to remain in the title discussion after losing his belt to Glover Teixeira in his previous appearance at UFC 267 this past October. On Saturday, Teixeira, who will defend the crown against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275 next month, appeared to strike a gentleman’s agreement with Blachowicz on social media.
Regardless of how things play out there, Blachowicz believes he has solidified his position as the division’s No. 1 contender.
“I hope so that the UFC gives me another title shot,” he said. “That I’m the next one. I was No. 1, Rakic was No. 3 — for me, it’s obvious that I’m the No. 1 contender now for the title shot.”
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