UFC Vegas 54: UFC Apex; Las Vegas
One-half of a possible light heavyweight rematch has his ticket punched after a tough injury. Aleksandar Rakic, who was doing slightly better than former champion Jan Blachowicz in their main event fight, took a step back and blew out his knee. With that twist of fate, Blachowicz now eyes a rematch with Glover Teixeira.
However, the Connecticut native more than has his hands full with Jiri Prochazka. But before the main event happened, the champion sent out this message:
Let’s go @JanBlachowicz Win tonight…and I’ll win Jun 11…then we run it back
— glover teixeira (@gloverteixeira) May 15, 2022
In his first fight since dropping the 205-strap, Blachowicz didn’t look bad, however just a tad off. But he was quickly cut by a straight right hand on the inside of his left eye. He then spent a lot of the opening round then pawing at it.
In the following round “Rocket” got an impressive takedown in the middle of the octagon, to which Blachowicz didn’t get up from. Although the Pole did hunt for submissions from the bottom, it was much better grappling overall from Rakic on top. The books been written now. Although being a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, Blachowicz has problems getting to his feet.
It’s hard to tell if all the leg kicks played a part in Rakic’s injury, or if it was just one of those things. Blachowicz told Michael Bisping after referee Mark Smith jumped in to officially stop the fight at 1:11 into round 3:
“I hope the UFC gives me the next title shot. (Kicking) is our secret weapon. Rakic has long legs, I knew they’d be successful”.
Blachowicz Now Eyes Rematch, But Does It Happen
Teixeira has a hotter charging talent to deal with in Prochazka. And he’s seriously going to need all his 42-years of knowledge to help him. “Denisa” hasn’t lost since 2015, and has won 12-in a row with 10-straight knockouts. With eight of those in the opening round. And Teixeira’s chin is not what it once was. And if there’s anyone getting a push in the division it’s the next challenger. Which sort of makes it look like the UFC is treating Teixeira as a “keep the title warm” type of fighter.
How The Divison Is Shaping Up
Nobody stays forever. So it’s finally playing out in the post-Jon Jones era there’s a bit of parity at 205. And that’s normal when you think about it. You hardly ever in sports see one dynasty lead right into another. There’s always that in between time where the dust settles before a new king rises. And that spells good times for the UFC’s light heavyweight division. Even Anthony Smith is getting into it. And he too has a charging monster on the horizon in Magomed Ankalaev.
Looks like Im going to upset a couple guys pretty soon ??♂️
— Anthony Smith (@lionheartasmith) May 15, 2022
Could Blachowicz avenge his loss to Teixeira? Sure. But he needs to tighten some things up. Like being on the bottom, and applying more pressure. He survived Rakic, but could he survive Prochazka? That an even taller order. This all means is if you’re a betting person; you could feel safe betting that by New Years Eve, the title changes hands not once, but twice.
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