Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz will be going up against Aleksander Rakic again in a rematch at UFC 297 on January 20th in Toronto, Canada and this time around he’s eager to finish the fight in a more definitive manner.
The 40-year-old Blachowicz’s previous encounter with Rakic took place in May of last year as he attempted to rebound from a title loss against Glover Teixeira. In the end Blachowicz emerged with a third round TKO victory, but it wasn’t as clear cut as the result suggests as his opponent suffered a knee injury that led to the fight ending.
“This is how I think about this: I beat him one more time, I break him again, and that’s it,” Blachowicz told Middle Easy. “And I just shut the people out, and that’s it. Then we’ll see what’s going to be next. Now I focus only about him, but I think this is a good fight for me.”
In the time since their last fight Blachowicz has fought twice, resulting in a split-draw against Magomed Ankalaev in a fight for the at-the-time vacant 205lb title, followed by a split-decision loss to Alex Pereira, who has since gone on to win the belt.
Meanwhile, Rakic had to undergo knee surgery after their last fight and as such has been out of action for two years, which Blachowicz believes is another reason he’ll come out on top.
“For sure it will work for me,” Blachowicz said. “Two years break almost, he’s coming back after surgery, injury, so we will see. But I’m going to be ready for best version of Rakic and of course he will be very motivated because he wants to prove that this time will be a different result. So, I have to be ready for a better Rakic, but I never lost a rematch, and this time will be the same.”
And this time around Blachowicz plans to silence any doubters by earning a definitive finish.
“Similar to our first fight but this time I just knock him out. Clear KO, nothing to say, nothing to do anymore. He’s going to have nothing to say after this.”
