The UFC has finalized a big time main event in their light heavyweight division. After Ariel Helwani first reported the possibility yesterday, the UFC finalized a headliner between former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz (28-9) and Aleksandar Rakic (14-2).
The matchup will headline a Fight Night on March 26th. In all likelihood, this matchup will be a title eliminator at 205 given where both men stand in the division. Back in 2017, Rakic made his UFC debut and he’s been close to perfect.
Since debuting, he’s gone 6-1 with the lone loss coming to Volkan Oezdemir. However, most believe that Rakic won that fight but was the victim of a bad decision by the judges. Since that loss, he’s won two straight.
Those two straight wins came over former title challengers Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos. There was talks of Rakic fighting Smith again in December, however, that fell through after Smith pulled out with an injury.
Rakic last fought at UFC 259 when he took on Thiago Santos. When we see Rakic next, it would have been just about a year away from the cage. After the layoff, he’s going to have a massive challenge in front of him.
Former UFC Champion Returns
After struggling early in his UFC career, Jan Blachowicz completely turned things around over the past few years. The Polish Power went on an incredible run that saw him go 9-1 and he captured the light heavyweight title.
The biggest win of that stretch was when he handed Israel Adesanya the first loss of his professional career back at UFC 259. Recently, Blachowicz took on Glover Teixeira at UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi.
Blachowicz really never got going in the fight and was ultimately stopped by the 41 year old Brazilian. Now, Blachowicz will try to get back and get to his UFC light heavyweight title. To do that, he will need to defeat a man who could say that he’s truly never been defeated in the octagon.
At this time, there’s no timeline for the potential title fight between Teixeira and top contender Jiri Prochazka. However, that fight is likely going to take place around this same time which sets this fight’s winner up perfectly to be the next in line barring injuries.