Jan Blachowicz emerged victorious in a highly competitive battle with Aleksandar Rakic tonight at UFC On ESPN 36 after his opponent suffered a bad knee injury while stepping backwards early in the third round.
Round One:
Leg kick for Blachowicz. Jab from Rakic and a low kick of his own. Blachowicz lands a calf kick of his own. Body kick from Rakic. Rakic slips and as he stands Blachowicz is trying to land a kick, but misses.
Rakic with a calf kick. Body punch and one upstairs from Blachowicz. Rakic punches to the head and lands a low kick, but it’s checked. Blachowicz has a cut below his left eye and is wiping at it already.
Blachowicz lands a nice combo of kicks and punches. Rakic now fires back. Right hand from Rakic. leg kicks exchanged.
Front kick to the body from Rakic. Calf kick for Blachowicz buckles Rakic’s leg slightly. Rakic with his own leg kick now. Blachowicz lands his own.
Blachowicz with a powerful punch that definitely got Rakic’s attention and he attempts a takedown in response without success.
Leg kick from Blachowicz and Rakic was almost flinching at that. Body punch from Blachowicz and then Rakic fires back with two punches. Blachowicz lands to the calf again.
Body punch from Blachowicz. He lands a hard left hook and Rakic connects with a couple of punches on the counter.
Body punch for Rakic. Inside leg kicks from him now. Calf kick for Blachowicz and a head kick attempt from Rakic. Blachowicz looking to land again as the round ends.
Round Two:
Jab for Rakic. Low kick for Blachowicz and two in response from Rakic. Rakic firing off the jab. Blachowicz pressing forward with strikes but a kick is caught by Rakic and he lands a takedown from it in the center of the Octagon.
Blachowicz throws up a leg looking for a triangle choke attempt. He doesn’t have it locked up yet. Rakic doesn’t defend immediately though and that lets Blachowicz get his other leg up to lock it in, but Rakic does then manage to escape it and settles into full guard.
Rakic landing a few short elbows. Now light punches. Another elbow lands. Blachowicz gradually working back to the cage and Rakic opts to cinch up his legs to prevent him from standing.
Blachowicz manages to get his legs free. Rakic landing a few short punches. Blachowicz starts to stand just as the round is coming to an end.
Round Three:
jab for Rakic. Low kick for Blachowicz and Rakic responds with his own. Nice body kick from Blachowicz. He lands a jab.
Body punch from Blachowicz. Jab for Rakic. Bod punch again from Blachowicz. Jab from Rakic knocks Blachowicz’s mouthguard out for a brief moment.
Leg kick from Blachowicz and then as Rakic steps back on his other leg his knee sickeningly gives way and he instantly collapses to the canvas in pain and unfortunately that’s going to be an end to the fight as he can’t continue after that freak injury, handing Blachowicz a TKO victory at 1.11mins of the third round.
That was shaping up to be a really competitive fight so it’s disappointing that it ended in that fashion, but nonetheless, it gets Blachowicz back in the win column as he looks to build towards getting the belt back, while Rakic suffers the second loss of his eight fight UFC run so far and will likely now be out of action for some time.
