Daniel Cormier agrees with Jan Blachowicz — he deserves more respect on his name.
Blachowicz shocked the world when he outpointed Israel Adesanya to defend his light heavyweight title in the UFC 259 headliner.
While it was a blow for Adesanya as he suffered his first professional defeat in the sport, it’s far from his first defeat in combat sports.
But more than anything, it showed that Blachowicz is as legit as they come as he now holds wins over the likes of Luke Rockhold, Jacare Souza, Dominick Reyes and now the middleweight champion of the world.
Cormier: Blachowicz Could Be Champion For A While
Following the fight, Blachowicz called for everyone to start putting respect on his name.
And Cormier — who himself had a back-and-forth with Blachowicz last year after playing him down as a champion — believes that’s what everyone should be doing.
“Do I believe Adesanya could beat some guys at 205? Absolutely,” Cormier said on DC & Helwani. “He just could not beat Jan Blachowicz on that night, and Jan’s the champion for a reason, man. He’s really good, he’s very powerful, he’s got fantastic cardio, he’s got a great chin. And now, the confidence matches all the abilities. And it’s going to be difficult to get that belt off him.
“Because listen to this — Jan Blachowicz is a guy that you thought would never hold a UFC championship — knocks out Dominick Reyes, defended it by beating Israel Adesanya. Fighting Glover [Teixeira] is good, Glover’s what, 42? 41. Jan’s gonna be favored to beat Glover. So now you’re only looking at a guy who won the belt, you’re gonna look at a guy with a résumé that has multiple title championship defenses on his resume.
“Because if you look down the line, are you really picking [Aleksandar] Rakic to beat Jan after last weekend, in his fight with Thiago Santos? Are you picking Glover to beat Jan Blachowicz right now? I mean, you’re starting to look at a guy that could sit at the top of the division for a really long time. So for all the disrespect this young man got when he won the belt, even from me, it’s starting to look like we were all completely wrong, and it’s time to put some respect on Jan Blachowicz’s name. He has earned it, he deserves it — and it could not have happened to a better man.”
While anything can happen in MMA, it certainly does look like Blachowicz will be champion for the considerable future.
