Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
UFC light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz is moving on from a fight with Jon Jones (for now).
Jan Blachowicz has had an interesting road to the light heavyweight title. Throughout his tenure in the UFC, Blachowicz has strung together wins over some of the division’s biggest names, but it is his most recent streak that has finally put him on the path towards gold.
Blachowicz knocked out Luke Rockhold, earned a split decision over Ronaldo Souza and finished Corey Anderson in his last three fights and it was these performances that saw Blachowicz receive his long-awaited championship opportunity. However, it is against a person many people would not have expected it to be.
For nearly a decade, former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones ran the division and was constantly in need of new challengers. Blachowicz was certainly on the short list of upcoming challengers for Jones, but things changed this year. In August, Jones announced that he would be vacating his title to pursue fights in the heavyweight division for the next part of his career.
In light of the announcement, a fight between Blachowicz and former title challenger Dominick Reyes was made official, but it would now be for the newly vacated light heavyweight title. It was a dramatic turn of events, but Blachowicz has remained unbothered by all of it and is solely focused on Reyes.
Speaking with MMA Fighting recently, Blachowicz broke down his feelings about not getting a crack at Jones before his departure from the division.
“Maybe a little bit [upset], but I don’t care. Right now, I’m only thinking about Dominick Reyes. I don’t care about Jon Jones anymore. I will think about him in the future. Now in my head is only Dominick, and I’ll focus on him.”
Although Blachowicz is putting the Jones fight behind him for now, he still looks forward to the day he meets the former champion in the Octagon. Blachowicz believes Jones will come back to the light heavyweight division eventually.
“I know in the future I will meet Jon Jones, so it’s just going to be a little bit later,” Blachowicz said. “The title is the most important thing. I’ve got the title shot against a really good fighter in Dominick Reyes. He made a really good fight against Jon Jones.
“I believe in the future, I’ll meet Jon Jones anyways but first, I have to beat Dominick.”
Blachowicz and Reyes will meet in the co-main event of UFC 253 in September.