Blachowicz Set For Title Shot After Win Over Rakic

Former Light-Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz put himself back into pole position for a title shot after a 3rd TKO victory over Aleksandar Rakic. The fight did not end by Blachowicz's doing though, as Rakic had to go down after what appeared to be a serious knee injury. Before the unfortunate ending, both fighters had their favourable moments. Jan looked comfortable on the feet in the first round despite an awkward eye cut that occurred shortly into the round. He caught Rakic multiple times and gave the Serbian plenty to think about heading into the following round. Rakic fought a lot smarter in the second, using his wrestling to control Jan and nullify his threat on the feet, heading into the third round, it was all square with a round awarded to each man. It only took a single minute for the fight to be over, Blachowicz started the round off with his typical pressure, throwing heavy strikes and chopping kicks. But the fight was done in unusual fashion, off the back of an exchange, Rakic took a step back and instantly went down, there was a clear issue that meant the Serbian could not continue. As I mentioned before, it was clearly an unfortunate ending to the fight and disappointing in the sense that you felt something was brewing as we went further into the tussle. Despite there not being a clear cut winner, it appears that the UFC and the matchmakers seem happy enough to give Jan a rematch *if* Glover Teixeira beats Jiri Prochazka at UFC 275. If you don't remember Glover submitted Jan back at UFC 267 in October, so if all goes well Glover Teixeira vs Jan Blachowicz 2 could be the next title fight. But if Jiri wins then there could be an instant rematch, or will Jan jump the queue? There are a couple of situations going on but LHW is certainly hotting up. You've also got the likes of Paul Craig, Anthony Smith and Magomed Ankalaev fighting in the next few months, who are arguably only a fight or two away from earning a title shot, so I'd advise you to keep an eye out.