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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) 205-pound champion Jon Jones, when he wasn’t busy shooting himself in the foot outside the cage, had a stranglehold on the division strap for the better part of a decade, so I’m sure for contending light heavyweights, “Bones” was all they thought about from sunrise to sundown.
These days … not so much.
Probably because Jones recently vacated the 205-pound title with plans to move up to the heavyweight division at some point in 2021 or beyond, which is why No. 3-ranked Jan Blachowicz is only focused on his next opponent, No. 1-ranked Dominick Reyes.
“Right now, I’m only thinking about Dominick Reyes,” Blachowicz told MMA Fighting. “I don’t care about Jon Jones anymore. Now in my head is only Dominick, and I’ll focus on him. I was happy because (Jones) unblocked our [division]. I knew that I was going to be fighting against Reyes then, and I knew it was going to be a title shot. A regular title, so it was great news.”
Blachowicz (26-8) will battle Reyes (12-1) for the vacant light heavyweight title in the upcoming UFC 253 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, which takes place a week from Sat. night (Sept. 26, 2020) inside Flash Forum on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi.
The power-punching Pole, 37, is now the winner of three straight, having recently stiffened Corey Anderson at UFC Fight Night 167. As for Reyes, who turns 31 in December, he’s coming off a razor-thin loss to Jones at UFC 247 back in February, which stands as the only defeat of his professional career.
For much more on their UFC 253 showdown click here.