Jan Blachowicz isn’t known for being critical of other fighters, but he was riled up following Alex Pereira’s UFC 295 post-fight interview.
Pereira captured UFC light heavyweight gold when he scored a second-round TKO finish over Jiri Prochazka inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. After the fight, Pereira was interviewed by Joe Rogan. “Poatan” called for another clash with former two-time UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, who recently announced he’s going on hiatus from pro MMA competition. The former UFC light heavyweight titleholder slammed Pereira in an X post, calling the request to fight Adesanya “pathetic.”
Blachowicz, who was defeated by Pereira via split decision back in July, was clearly none too pleased over the callout, and he has explained why in an exclusive interview with Middle Easy.
Jan Blachowicz On Slamming Alex Pereira Following UFC 295
Speaking to James Lynch, Jan Blachowicz explained that he feels he has unfinished business with Alex Pereira and that’s why “Poatan” calling out Israel Adesanya ticked him off.
“I was surprised what he say after the fight,” Blachowicz said. “He call out Izzy again. I said, ‘No, I can’t believe it. One more time? Come on, give me a break.’ You’ve got some business to do with me here because I believe that I won our fight. So, first of all me, and after that you can do what you want to do.”
With that said, Blachowicz isn’t downplaying Pereira’s showing against Prochazka.
“Great performance, great win,” Blachowicz said.
Jan’s Pick For Pereira vs. Hill
Blachowicz was then asked who he thinks pulls ahead in a likely light heavyweight title scrap between Pereira and Jamahal Hill.
“We’ll see how he gonna feel after the injury because sometimes it’s hard coming back in great shape,” Blachowicz said. “You still got something in the back of your head that you have surgery and you coming back. You don’t know how your leg gonna feel. So, I don’t know. In this moment, I would put my money on Pereira.”
Blachowicz has a UFC 297 matchup with Aleksandar Rakić lined up for January 20, 2024. The Polish bruiser laid out a path to being in another UFC title fight.
“If Pereira will fight against Jamahal Hill and he gonna win, and I believe that I’m gonna win against Rakic so this rematch, they have to give it to me because our fight was split decision, and I believe the referee give bad decision,” Blachowicz said.
Blachowicz is also open to the idea of fighting Jiri Prochazka. As far as whether or not he’d be willing to be a backup fighter for a title fight in the future, Blachowicz made his answer clear.
“I can be backup fighter, no problem,” Blachowicz said. “You just sit over there waiting, watch the fight and they give you some money. So, why not?”
Here is our full interview with Jan Blachowicz:
