For Jan Blachowicz, it’s always been about the title, not the man.
Blachowicz (26-8 MMA, 9-5 UFC) will finally get his shot at gold, but it won’t be against the man widely considered to be the greatest light heavyweight of all time, Jon Jones.
After Blachowicz knocked out the streaking Corey Anderson at UFC on ESPN+ 25 in February, it appeared everything was falling perfectly in line for a showdown with then-UFC light heavyweight champion Jones, who watched the fight from octagonside.
But Jones (25-1 MMA, 20-1 UFC) ended up relinquishing the belt and moving up to heavyweight and Blachowicz will instead face Dominick Reyes for the vacant light heavyweight title in the co-main event of UFC 253.
While an opportunity to become the first man to dethrone Jones could have been potentially career-changing, Blachowicz is just happy to be competing for the title against a worthy opponent.
“I’m just happy the fight will be for the title,” Blachowicz told MMA Junkie. “Dominick Reyes is also a really good fighter, one of the best in the world, so we both deserve to have this chance and we got it, so I don’t think about Jon Jones right now. He doesn’t exist for me right now. I’m thinking only about Dominick Reyes.”
Blachowicz isn’t focused on Jones right now, but that doesn’t mean he’s ruling out the possibility of fighting him down the line – even if that means moving up a weight class to make it happen.
“Right now, I believe that in the future I’ll meet Jon Jones anyway, so right now, only Dominick Reyes is in my head,” Blachowicz said.
“I think that he will come back to 205 in the future. If not, I can go to heavyweight also – no problem for me – and catch him over there.”
