Jan Blachowicz has not given up on a showdown with Jiri Prochazka.
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz was expected to challenge the new divisional king Jiri Prochazka in his first title defense. After dethroning Glover Teixeira at UFC 275, Prochazka named Blachowicz as the biggest challenge ahead and expressed his desire to compete with him in his next outing.
However, Prochazka had a change of heart and announced that he’d like to rematch Teixeira first.
Jan Blachowicz believes he could still get the fight with Jiri Prochazka
In an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, “Legendary Polish Power” shared his thoughts on “The Czech Samurai” changing his mind after initially wanting to fight him.
“In my opinion, he broke the rules. He broke his own code, he believes in this, he believes in the samurai way so he didn’t upheld this code in my knowledge, what I know about the samurai (code).
“Because he said that I’m the biggest challenge for him now. Always samurais are looking for the biggest challenge. If they find it, they want to find again this challenge. So, if he said that I’m the biggest challenge or he’s lying, doing something I don’t know what he’s thinking about now he changed his decision.”
When asked about Prochazka’s justification for the change, Blachowicz stated that there might be more than meets the eyes.
“Politics, now he will say everything to protect himself… I feel that he wanted to fight with me so he said a lot in the interviews. But he don’t want to do it.”
He teased that he still might get the title shot and is waiting on the UFC to decide which fight they want to book next.
“Yeah, I was surprised because nobody expected that but what can I do? I’m waiting for official decision, and that’s it. We will see. Maybe he changes his mind again. We started talking with (UFC) but I can’t tell you anything.”
Blachowicz is willing to fight Kamaru Usman
Reigning UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman has been hinting at a move up to light heavyweight in a bid to achieve double-champ status. Blachowicz, who competed against Israel Adesanya in the weight class, is willing to welcome Usman to 205 lbs.
“He’s big so who knows? If he wants to do it, if not Jiri, why not him?”
“Of course, (he can have success at 205) but not with me. If he’s going to fight me, he’s going to lose.”
Based on what Blachowicz teased in the interview, he could be getting a shot at the gold next. If not, Usman’s move up could be here sooner than later.
