A pivotal light heavyweight showdown pitting Jan
Blachowicz against Aleksandar
Rakic has been rescheduled for an Ultimate Fighting
Championship card on May 14.
Blachowicz and Rakic were initially slated to meet at UFC on ESPN
33 on March 26 before Blachowicz
withdrew from the card due to a neck injury. Multiple outlets
confirmed the new date following an initial
report from Ariel Helwani. The event takes place at the UFC
Apex in Las Vegas and also includes a women’s flyweight tilt
between Katlyn
Chookagian and Amanda
Ribas.
Blachowicz saw a five-bout winning streak come to an end at UFC
267, when he relinquished the light heavyweight crown to Glover
Teixeira in a second-round submission defeat. The 38-year-old
Pole claimed the vacant strap with a second-round stoppage of
Dominick
Reyes at UFC 253 before outpointing middleweight king Israel
Adesanya in his lone title defense at UFC 259. Blachowicz has
won nine of his last 11 UFC appearances dating back to October
2017.
Rakic, meanwhile, has been victorious in six of seven outings
within the Las Vegas-based promotion. The 29-year-old Austrian
rebounded from a split-decision loss to Volkan
Oezdemir at UFC Fight Night 165 to earn unanimous verdicts over
Anthony
Smith and Thiago
Santos in his last two Octagon appearances.