The UFC light heavyweight division may not have Jon Jones – but maybe they still have a dominant champion
Jan Blachowicz (27-8), a neglected slugger from Poland, beat Dominick Reyes (12-2) via TKO at 4 minutes, 36 seconds into the second round of their light heavyweight title fight on Saturday at the ‘UFC 253 on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, UAE In doing so, Blachowicz became the first man other than Jones and former champion Daniel Cormier to hold the 205-pound title since 2011
The championship fight, which served as UFC 253’s main co-event, came just over a month after Jones voluntarily left the title in anticipation of a move to heavyweight Blachowicz , 37, has a long way to go to get closer to Jones’ accolades in the division, but he certainly got his title off to a good start. Immediately afterwards, Jones was the first thing on his mind
« The only thing on my mind is, Jon Jones, where are you? » Blachowicz said « This is how we do it in Poland I am waiting for you »
Jones, who expressed interest in fighting Blachowicz in February before leaving the title, wrote on Twitter: « Jan appreciates my friend, congratulations »
Reyes, from Hesperia, Calif., was heavily favored to win, after completing five tight laps with Jones at UFC 247 in February Many observers have marked this title fight for Reyes’ 30-year-old. years old said he felt robbed by judges and entered Saturday’s contest qualifying as an uncrowned champion
But it didn’t take long for Blachowicz to show that Saturday would be anything but a walk in the park for Reyes He landed several hard kicks on Reyes’ body early on, resulting in a huge welt on the right side of his rib cage Reyes came out in the second round looking to be more aggressive, but struggled with Blachowicz’s reach and power
The arrival came shortly after a flurry of punches from Blachowicz After the arrival, blood flowed from Reyes’ nose, which appeared to be broken It was Blachowicz’s eighth win in the weight division UFC light heavyweights since the start of 2017, which is the biggest of all 205 pounds over that time frame
Assuming Jones does not accept Blachowicz’s invitation to return to the division, his first title defense could come against the winner of a Nov 7 Main Event between Thiago Santos and Glover Teixeira Santos holds third round TKO finish against Blachowicz from 2019 This is Blachowicz’s only loss in his last nine fights
Dominick Reyes, Jan Blachowicz, jan błachowicz
World News – UA – Blachowicz stops Reyes to win vacant UFC crown