Jan Blachowicz is aware that he was a terrible player when he lost against Glover Teixeira in October. But rather than make excuses, he just wants to earn another shot at him.
As Blachowicz prepares to face Aleksandar Rakic at UFC Vegas 54,, the former light heavyweight champion is focusing his attention entirely on the fight. Blachowicz is also closely watching the UFC 275 main events.
On that night, Teixeira will defend his 205-pound title for the first time against Jiri Prochazka, and Blachowicz is rooting for his former opponent in hopes they’ll rematch down the road.
“I would like to take the belt from Glover,” Blachowicz told MMA Fighting. So I’ll keep my fingers crossed that he wins. I wish him the best in this fight. But I hope so if he defends the belt, he will not retire. He needs to give me the rematch, but I focus about Rakic first.”
At 42, Teixeira is the oldest champion on the UFC roster. It’s hard to believe that he would consider retiring after the six consecutive wins and three finishes. However, this could all change in a flash.
Prochazka has been an incredible human highlight reel ever since he was promoted. Blachowicz wouldn’t mind facing him, even if it meant that he lost the belt. Blachowicz is from Poland, while Prochazka comes from the Czech Republic. He also understands that it would be an uphill battle for Europe.
That said, Blachowicz still believes in Teixeira beyond his desire for a rematch, especially if the Brazilian approaches his fight against Prochazka with a grappling heavy game plan in mind.
“Jiri is also a really good fight for me, I think all of Europe would like to see this fight with me against Jiri,” Blachowicz said. “[He has a] He is a crazy fighter with a strange style but does all things really well. We’ll see. I’m curious.
” I think Glover will do the exact same thing as he did in my fight. He’ll win the fight and keep the belt .”
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Before he can potentially earn a rematch with Teixeira or face Prochazka with the title on the line, Blachowicz first has to get through Rakic, who enters their fight with two straight wins and a 6-1 overall record in the UFC.
Rakic has an impressive resume, but he hasn’t yet earned the kind of highlight-reel victories that have earned him the kind of hype needed to jump into title contention. Blachowicz is his most difficult test yet.
” I’m interested — he will give me answers after the fight for me personally,” Blachowicz stated. The fight was a strong one. Really good grappling, really good wrestling, excellent standup, knockout punching power but this kind of fight motivates me. I like to fight against strong guys. It gives me better motivation going into the fight.
“I know what he’s got for me and I’m going to have an answer for everything he’s got for me. One thing I must remember is that I cannot forget the legend Polish power I have in my hotel room prior to the fight. This fight .”
will be won if I remember that.
After a loss to Teixeira last time, Blachowicz is determined to be a UFC Vegas 54 star and that’s what he will do on Saturday.
Blachowicz is not a prolific speaker. He’s not going try to talk about Teixeira’s problems or how Rakic will be handled. He will do his best work and that will be enough to let the light heavyweights know.
“Of course, I want to show my real power, my real legendary Polish power, but I don’t want to explain myself,” Blachowicz said. “I don’t want to do it. You can see that I’ve suffered a few losses in my professional career. Because I am motivated, I believe I can lose some fights.
“I know what I’m doing and why I’m doing that. Sometimes I feel awful and then I go to the gym, and I feel better. I just think I’m the fighter who sometimes has to lose. To feel that fire again inside of me.”
If all goes well at UFC Vegas 54, Blachowicz expects that to put him right back into title contention to then get either Teixeira or Prochazka for his next fight.
” The end of the year and the start of next year [I will fight for the title],” Blachowicz stated. “I will be next after Rakic, I will be next. I believe that.”
