Jan Blachowicz says he asked to fight Alex Pereira when he heard the Brazilian would be moving up to light heavyweight.
After Pereira was knocked out by Israel Adesanya in April to lose his middleweight title, he announced he would be moving up to 205lbs. Once he made the announcement, many were curious to see who he would fight next and according to Blachowicz, he asked for the scrap.
“When I heard that he would come to our division, I just want to fight against him,” Blachowicz said on The MMA Hour. “I talked with my manager and they did this fight, it was easy. Yeah, I said, ‘OK, give it to me.’ Why not?” Maybe [the UFC would have made this fight anyway]. Maybe also there was an idea for them. But I’m happy I got what I wanted.”
Part of the reason why Jan Blachowicz asked for the fight, is he wants to derail Pereira’s hype even further. He knows many fans expect Pereira to be better at light heavyweight than at middleweight, but Blachowicz doesn’t think that is the case.
Blachowicz vows to send Pereira back down to middleweight
Instead, Blachowicz says he plans on sending Pereira back down to middleweight as he plans to show the Brazilian he isn’t a true light heavyweight.
“I think this is my job in the UFC sometimes,” Blachowicz said. “I need to do it in the best way, to send him back to the lower category.
If Blachowicz does get his hand raised against Alex Pereira, the Pole said he was told he will get the next title shot. He is coming off a draw to Magomed Ankalaev for the vacant light heavyweight title and ever since he lost the belt to Glover Teixeira, he has been adamant to get it back.
“If I win the fight, my next fight will be for the title,” Blachowicz revealed. “It’s bigger motivation for me, and thanks to Alex that he moved to our category — new blood. I’d like to know what place I am right now. It’s very good for me that after this fight, my next fight will be for the title. I’m just happy to take the belt again to Poland.”
Jan Blachowicz vs. Alex Pereira goes down at UFC 291 in the co-main event.
