MMA
UFC 267: Jan Blachowicz says he beats Jon Jones regardless of weight class
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Jon Jones defended the light heavyweight title a record-breaking 14 times before relinquishing the belt in 2020 so he could prepare for a move up to the heavyweight division.
A new light heavyweight champion was crowned at UFC 253 in September 2020 as Jan Blachowicz went to Fight Island and stopped Dominick Reyes to capture the vacant strap. After dominating middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya at UFC 259, Blachowicz returns to where he won UFC gold as he defends against Glover Teixeira on Saturday in Abu Dhabi.
Blachowicz (28-8) has won nine of his last ten fights, including five in a row. He sees himself doing one or two more fights at 205 pounds and then going to the land of the giants. It appeared Blachowicz would face Jones after knocking out Corey Anderson in the first round in February 2020, but Jones had other plans in mind. At this time, Jones doesn't have a fight scheduled. So for Blachowicz, facing arguably the greatest fighter of all time isn't as appealing as it once was.
But if the UFC asked him, he'd gladly accept the offer regardless if it was a title defense where Jones had a stranglehold on the division, or at heavyweight.
"I will fight against Jon Jones. Doesn't matter what weight. I will beat him," Blachowicz defiantly told DAZN News. "But I don't think about him anymore. Nobody knows what's gonna happen with him. I'm ready for him at 205 and at heavyweight."
Jones has had a litany of out-of-the-cage issues, culminating in a September arrest hours after getting inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. He's facing charges of battery domestic violence against his fiancee, and injuring and tampering with a vehicle. Blachowicz feels Jones has a problem and needs to take care of his demons before making a return to the Octagon.
"I don't want to judge him because I don’t know him," Blachowicz said. "I don't know what is in his head. He’s got a problem, and he needs to fix his private life. There is a big problem in his head, and he needs to do something with that. Right now, it's bad, but it's not really bad. I wish that he had fixed everything. What is wrong with him?"
According to BetMGM, the native of Poland is a heavy favorite to successfully retain his belt for the second time. However, Blachowicz doesn't look at the odds. All he knows is that he's going to finish Teixeira in a violent fashion.
"I see me taking him out in the second or third round (with a) left or right hand”, Blachowicz boldly predicted.
