Jan Blachowicz plans on leaving no doubt in his rematch with Aleksandar Rakic.
Former light heavyweight champion Blachowicz (29-10-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) runs things back with Rakic (14-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) on Jan. 20 at UFC 297 from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
Blachowicz defeated Rakic by TKO due to injury in May 2022 after Rakic blew out his knee just over a minute into Round 3. Rakic has been dead set on getting his rematch, and Blachowicz aims to silence any skepticism surrounding their first fight.
“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.”
Judges had their first fight scored 1-1 going into Round 3, but Blachowicz aims to end the rematch in more definitive fashion.
“Similar to our first fight but this time I just knock him out,” Blachowicz said. “Clear KO, nothing to say, nothing to do anymore. He’s going to have nothing to say after this.”
Since their first fight, Rakic is yet to compete, whereas Blachowicz has fought twice. He expects the long layoff to impact Rakic.
“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.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 297.