Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz will defend his 205-pound title in the UFC 267 pay-per-view (PPV) main event opposite longtime contender Glover Teixeira, a five-round showdown booked for Oct. 30 in Abu Dhabi.
With COVID rearing its ugly head once again, coupled with the fact that Blachowicz is 38 and Teixeira is 41, the promotion is sending No. 2-ranked title contender Jiri Prochazka to “Fight Island” to serve as back up in case either headliner is medically unfit to compete.
That’s according to MMA Fighting.
Prochazka (28-3-1) has won 12 straight fights, finishing 11 of those wins by way of knockout. “Denisa” was scooped up by UFC in early 2020 and quickly validated his hype, smashing former light heavyweight No. 1 title contenders Volkan Oezdemir and Dominick Reyes.
Even if the promotion does’t require the Pole’s services, he’s expected to face the winner of Blachowicz vs. Teixeira in early 2022, so at best he gets a crack at the crown on Oct. 30 and at worst he gets free airfare to Abu Dhabi and trip the scales for the UFC 267 weigh ins.