Salt Lake City, UT – Former UFC light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz pounced at the chance to welcome his opponent, former middleweight champion Alex Pereira, to his division at UFC 291 on Saturday night.
“Great fighter, great sportsman, knockout punch power. I watch almost all of his fights in MMA,” Blachowicz told reporters including Cageside Press on Wednesday.
“Now we got him in 205. When I hear that he say he want to go to 205 I talked with my manager, sent message to UFC ‘I want him’, and we have him. I’m happy that I can fight against someone like him.”
The opportunity to test his stand-up against someone like Pereira was too good to pass up. With knockout power of his own he won’t be shy about trading with the fellow former champion, but he knows he has his grappling in his back pocket for insurance.
“I want to check my stand up against him. Try to knock him out, but if something goes wrong in stand up I can use my wrestling and take him down,” he said.
“Finish him on the ground. This is what I want to do. Win the fight.”
Now former UFC light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill recently vacated the title due to an injury he suffered leaving the division without a champion. Immediate thought from many fans and fighters was that the bout between Blachowicz and Pereira was perfect to find a new champion.
Blachowicz shed some light on the situation and what the UFC told him their plans for the division were.
“UFC tell me that, after this fight, next fight will be for the title. So nothing changed. Jamahal Hill, he left the belt, I wish (him) fast recovery,” he said.
“But my next opponent maybe (Jiri) Prochazka we’re going to fight for the title. We’ll see. After the fight we can talk next step.”
Watch the entire media day scrum with Jan Blachowicz above. He takes on Alex Pereira at UFC 291 on Saturday night.
