Jan
Blachowicz can envision an eventual return to the heavyweight
division, but the more pressing matter at hand is his first
205-pound title defense.
After Blachowicz claimed the vacant light heavyweight belt with a
knockout of Dominick
Reyes at UFC 253, he said that March would be
an ideal time for him to return n to the Octagon. However,
middleweight king Israel
Adesanya, the opponent the UFC has targeted next for
Blachowicz, wants to fight earlier than that.
Blachowicz isn’t budging on his initial stance.
“I don’t care. I want to fight in March, not earlier,” Blachowicz
recently told Submission Radio.
“I sent email to the UFC, if they want my next fight, they have to
do this in March. March is the perfect month for me. If he wants to
fight earlier, it’s not my problem, it’s his problem. I am the
champion of 205. So if he will fight against me, my rules, my
category — my month is March.”
Blachowicz also reiterated that he would be willing to square off
against Glover
Teixeira if Adesanya is unwilling to compromise. The
41-year-old Brazilian is currently on a five-bout winning streak
after submitting Thiago
Santos at UFC on ESPN 17.
“If not Israel, then Glover. He said that March for him is also
perfect. If Israel doesn’t want to fight me in March, I think the
next one will be Glover,” Blachowicz said.
“Both of them are good fighters. Israel is a champion. Glover
deserves this fight. If you watch his last couple fights, he is 41
years old and right now he is in really good shape,” he continued.
“He’s got a similar story to me in the UFC. It’s also gonna be a
great fight against him. I don’t know. I don’t like to choose my
opponent.”
Blachowicz does acknowledge that a matchup with Adesanya has
greater marquee value.
“For sure he is bigger name. He’s got more fans than me on
Instagram,” Blachowicz said. “People are gonna hear about this
fight. If they give me this fight against him, I will be the first
one to beat him in MMA. But he will never forget in his life that
the first guy to beat him is Jan
Blachowicz.”
Speaking of high-profile fights, Blachowicz hasn’t forgotten about
Jon
Jones, who is expected to make his heavyweight debut at some
point in 2021. The 37-year-old Pole has designs on moving up in
weight, but he’d like to do some more damage at light heavyweight
first. When he does make that transition, he believes that is when
he’ll finally come face to face with Jones.
“I would like to stay in 205 a little bit longer,” Blachowicz said.
“But it’s also hard because nobody knows what Jon Jones is
doing right now. Even the UFC says that they don’t talk with him
about his next fight. So, nobody knows what he’s doing.
“But, I believe that I will catch him later in heavyweight. I think
two more years at 205 and then I will go to heavyweight.”
For now, Blachowicz can’t worry to much about Jones. Instead, he’ll
focus on defending the light heavyweight belt — whether that comes
against Adesanya or Teixeira remains to be seen.
“First of all, I have to win against Glover or Israel, and after
this fight we can talk about Jon Jones,”
Blachowicz said. “I don’t care. I believe I catch him in future
somewhere, at 205 or in heavyweight.
“Or maybe I’ll go to Albuquerque and go to his gym and we do
sparring on the mat. But I believe that I have to fight against him
somewhere, just for myself.”