UFC 267 went down this past weekend (Sat., Oct. 30, 2021) from inside Etihad Arena on “Fight Island” in Abu Dhabi, which left plenty of fighters feeling the post-fight blues. Among them was Cory Sandhagen, who came up short in his bid to win the interim Bantamweight title after dropping a unanimous decision to Petr Yan in a highly-entertaining title fight (see it).
Also, Dan Hooker couldn’t stop the freight train that is Islam Makhachev, tapping to an arm-wrenching kimura early in the first round (highlights). But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from the show?
After his first successful title defense against Middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya, Blachowicz was aiming to keep the belt a bit longer in his second showing against long-time veteran, Glover Teixeira.
What was expected to be a hard-hitting affair was anything but, because Blachowicz could never get anything going after eight minutes of action, ultimately tapping (rather quickly) to a suffocating rear-naked choke. Afterward, the Polish bruiser couldn’t explain what went wrong, but it was easy to see that it wasn’t the same fighter we’ve seen resurrect his career over the last two years.
“My performance today was horrible,” Blachowicz said at the UFC 267 post-fight press conference (via MMA Fighting). “I don’t know. I wasn’t champion today, he was. He is. I don’t know, I need time to think about it, but for sure something was bad.
“It wasn’t me,” he continued. “I don’t want to explain myself, he beat me, everybody see that. It’s not over, I’m not a quitter, I will not go anywhere, I will come back here for sure. I need to rest for sure, think a little bit, and for sure I will come back. I’m not a quitter, I’m not a coward, I will not quit. You’re gonna see me in the Octagon again.”
To make matters worse, Blachowicz had to hear it from former 205-pound champion, Jon Jones, and current Bellator MMA title contender, Corey Anderson, who were quick to throw salt on Jan’s wounds, claiming that he wasn’t exactly focused on the task at hand.
It’s hard to believe Blachowicz wasn’t putting all of his attention on a foe as dangerous as Teixeira, but that no longer matters because the hard-hitting ex-champion now has to regroup and make sure that whatever mistakes he made on “Fight Island” won’t happen again.
As far as who Blachowicz should face next, he could be eying a showdown against Aleksandar Rakic in his comeback fight. Rakic is currently ranked No. 3 at Light Heavyweight and Jiri Prochazka will likely get first crack at Teixeira, leaving “Rocket” waiting for an extended period of time if he opts to sit out.
Currently on a two-fight win streak, Rakic can stamp his ticket to the big dance by getting a win over Blachowicz whereas a victory over “Rocket” puts Jan right back in the title conversation and could set him up for a chance to reclaim his title sooner, rather than later.
For complete UFC 267 results and coverage click here.