Jan Blachowicz knocked out Corey Anderson in the first round in their recent rematch. That’s now three wins in a row, and seven out of his last eight fights have been victories. Afterward, he said he thought people had been underestimating him. And he’s right; I am one of those people. I thought he would lose the match, just like he did the first time those two fought.
Jon Jones, meanwhile, was present for the bout. And in the crowd, he excitedly agreed with the notion that Blachowicz should be next for the title. Knowing Jones, we have to be skeptical about why this is. First, it takes the pressure off of a rematch with Dominick Reyes, a person most feel beat him. He also knows Corey Anderson from a skillset point of view is the tougher matchup. So taking on Jan would be an easy win for Jones.
I still feel the fight said more about Corey Anderson than it did about Jan. Anderson was a man who had been KO’d earlier in his career by Jimi Manuwa and Ovince St. Preux. The narrative, endorsed by Corey, was that those were early career mistakes, and he has gotten better. A recent string of solid wins seemed to support that notion. Yet once again Anderson gets knocked out early in a fight, in this case after throwing an ill-advised kick with no setup. It would seem to suggest that Anderson didn’t progress as much as we had all hoped, not that suddenly Jan Blachowicz is this world-beater who needs a title shot.
The reason I don’t like Jan versus Jon is probably the reason Jones likes the matchup. Jan is defensive in all things. He’s a counter-striker and his ground game is throwing up submission attempts off his back. So Jon could literally move forward and be in a top position for five rounds and Jan would likely happily allow it. Even if Blachowicz did show some high-level BJJ and slipped shots landing his own hard counter hooks, the judges would still likely give the fight to Jones.
Remember, it was only one fight ago Jan had one of the most boring bouts ever against Jacare Souza –a five-round affair where neither man did hardly anything. Some even thought Souza won. But really, who even cared? A guy who can barely defeat a past his prime middleweight ain’t ready for Jones. So Jan versus Jon will be boring and Blachowicz would probably be bested.
Despite Jan recently saying he won’t fight again unless it’s for the belt, I still say give Reyes the title shot rematch.
The most recent loss of Jan’s record is against former title challenger Thiago Santos, a man who in his last bout lost a split decision against Jones.; to me, that should be Jan’s next fight. He’s proven a good bit of work in avenging loss in his history. Santos is the perfect foe. He has been out healing up from knee surgery and is supposedly close to ready. Even recently he complained in an interview that the UFC offered him someone outside the top 10 (he didn’t name who), and he’d prefer to fight either for the title or someone of significance where a win against them will lead to another shot at the champ.
Technically Jan has yet to even face someone in the top five of the light-heavyweight division. Not that the rankings mean much. But lets at least pretend that they do.
Give Jon Jones and Dominick Reyes the rematch and have Jan Blachowicz face Thiago Santos. Not only does a win for Jan make up for that loss, but it takes out a title challenger that many were clamoring to see get a rematch against the champ himself, had he not hurt his knee.
If Blachowicz gets the victory, I guess you can’t really deny him his chance to face the champ. Having secured a win against a top-five opponent and former title challenger, which would count as four in a row, the title fight will have been well earned. Plus, if Santos wins, he will also deserve his rematch with Jones.
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