Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz will have the chance to reclaim his belt at UFC 282 this weekend. Blachowicz vs Ankalaev will replace the original headliner, Prochazka vs Teixeira 2, in a last-minute rescheduling following a devastating injury that forced Jiri Prochazka to vacate the title and abandon the event. Blachowicz revealed on The MMA Hour that he found out about the matchup very late in the piece.
“I didn’t know nothing. I got off the plane, I get wifi in the airport and my phone is shaking all the time, ringing. I’m like, ‘What happened? Something happened.’ I already know that something happened because [I have] too many messages. Of course, first I check from my manager — also she’s my fiancée — and I read the message and I have to read it four or five times because I don’t understand.
Blachowicz Was “Last Person” To Know He’s Fighting at UFC 282
I don’t believe what’s happened, what she wrote to me. I showed the message to my coaches, ‘A title shot. It’s happened.’ Later I called to her and said, ‘Hey, you’re not joking with me? It’s true? We’re really going to fight for the title?’ ‘Yeah,’ and she told me the whole story. Literally, I knew nothing. I was the last person to know that we were going to fight for the title.”
Blachowicz was somewhat baffled not to be facing Glover Teixeira, the man who was originally scheduled to headline UFC 282, and who took his belt in the first place.
“I also would like to do this rematch. It’s one rematch I would like to do, [and] every fight that I lost. This is something that hurts me, because I believe I can fight much better than our first fight and I believe I can beat Glover. But it is what it is. Maybe the UFC just wanted to do something new. Also, Ankalaev has how many wins in a row? He deserves to fight for the title.”
Regardless, Blachowicz is looking forward to fighting Magomed Ankalaev. “Very good fighter. Young fighter. A lot of wins in a row.
It’s going to be a tough opponent for me, but everybody is tough in the UFC. I’m ready for him. I’m ready for what he’s got for me. We trained for him. We know his weaknesses, we know his best weapons, and I have to just do my best inside the octagon.
He fought with very good guys, with top fighters. He fought with the fighters who beat me, so he’s very good and I need to be careful for everything, knockout punch power, good wrestling, good control on the ground. I’ve got a lot of respect for him, but in a way, I go to this fight with the win in my head, always.”
Will Jan Blachowicz reclaim his UFC title this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx2BQtBRW5o
