Tag: Jan Blachowicz

BREAKING: Alexander Gustafsson Announces UFC Return

It’s been eight months since former title-challenger and No. 4-ranked light heavyweight in the world Alexander Gustafsson has competed inside of the UFC’s Octagon, and according to a local Swedish report, it may not be too long before we see him back again. According to the source Gustafsson is targeted to take on Jan Blachowicz in

The post BREAKING: Alexander Gustafsson Announces UFC Return appeared first on LowKick MMA.

It’s been eight months since former title-challenger and No. 4-ranked light heavyweight in the world Alexander Gustafsson has competed inside of the UFC’s Octagon, and according to a local Swedish report, it may not be too long before we see him back again.

According to the source Gustafsson is targeted to take on Jan Blachowicz in the UFC’s Hamburg event this September.

Gustafsson (16-4) is on an incredibly disappointing two-fight losing skid after dropping a split decision title-bout to current 205-pound king Daniel Cormier, in their incredible five round war at UFC 192 this past October.

road to the octagon

Blachowicz (19-5) comes fresh off of a unanimous decision victory  over Igor Pokrajac at UFC Fight Night 86 in April, following a two fight losing streak to the likes of Jimi Manuwa and Corey Anderson over the span of a year. A bout between Gustafsson and Blachowicz has yet to be confirmed, however, stick with LowKick for the latest on ‘The Mauler’s’ return and this bout’s possible confirmation.

UFC Fight Night 93 goes down live from Hamburg, Germany on FS1, live from the Barclaycard Arena on September 3, 2016. The event is headlined by a heavyweight clash between No. 6-ranked heavyweight Andrei Arlovski and No. 9-ranked Josh Barnett.

Alexander Gustafsson

Gustafsson came tantalisingly close to defeating Jon Jones back when ‘Bones’ was the undisputed champion of the 205-pound division. That was at UFC 165 in 2013, a veritable lifetime ago in terms of MMA years. Many still feel that five round war was the greatest light-heavyweight title fight in the promotion’s history, and there are those who still argue that ‘The Mauler’ should have got the nod from the judges.

The reported bout with Blachowicz would certainly serve as a good litmus test for where Gus’ future is headed, and it would be great to see Gustafsson back after nearly a full year out of action.

UPDATE!

Gustafsson took to Instagram this morning to announce the fight with ‘JB,’ here it is:

It's on. Cant wait to fight my Polish friend @janblachowicz at @ufc Hamburg.

A photo posted by AlexThemauler (@alexthemauler) on

The post BREAKING: Alexander Gustafsson Announces UFC Return appeared first on LowKick MMA.

UFC Fight Night 53: Nelson vs. Story — Live Results & Commentary


(“Oh f*ck it, I don’t have to talk either, man. See how you like it. Just total f*ckin’ silence. Two can play at that game, smart guy. We’ll just see how you like it. Total silence.” / Photo via Getty)

UFC Fight Night 53: Nelson vs. Story is underway at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, featuring emotionless submission ace Gunnar Nelson, the big homey Ilir Latifi, and a bunch of prelim fighters with near-unpronounceable names. We haven’t exactly given this event a lot of coverage on CagePotato, but our Fight Pass correspondent Bear Siragusa is here to give you live results from the main card, which kicks off at noon PT / 3 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local time. Follow us after the jump for round-by-round updates, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.


(“Oh f*ck it, I don’t have to talk either, man. See how you like it. Just total f*ckin’ silence. Two can play at that game, smart guy. We’ll just see how you like it. Total silence.” / Photo via Getty)

UFC Fight Night 53: Nelson vs. Story is underway at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, featuring emotionless submission ace Gunnar Nelson, the big homey Ilir Latifi, and a bunch of prelim fighters with near-unpronounceable names. We haven’t exactly given this event a lot of coverage on CagePotato, but our Fight Pass correspondent Bear Siragusa (AKA, boy of destiny) is here to give you live results from the main card, which kicks off at noon PT / 3 p.m. ET / 9 p.m. local time. Follow us after the jump for round-by-round updates, and refresh the page every few minutes for all the latest.

Preliminary card results
– Magnus Cedenblad vs. Scott Askham via unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
– Nico Musoke def. Alexander Yakovlev via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Dennis Siver def. Charles Rosa via unanimous decision (30-27 x 3)
– Cathal Pendred def. Gasan Umalatov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
– Krzysztof Jotko def. Tor Troeng via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-26, 30-27)
– Mairbek Taisumov def. Marcin Bandel via TKO (punches) at 1:01 of round 1
– Zubaira Tukhugov def. Ernest Chavez via TKO (punches) at 4:21 of round 1.

Well, that was fun. God dagen alle sammen!

Charles Rosa wins the prize for best walkout song with Shipping up to Boston by Drop Kick Murphy’s. You just can’t go wrong with Drop Kick. I knocked out a guy in a kilt at a Drop Kick Murphy’s concert once… But, I digress. Let’s get rolling right away.

First up:

Niklas Backstrom vs. Mike Wilkinson

Round 1:
Leg kick and a spinning back kick from Wilkinsen. Wilkinsen tries for a takedown but misses. Backstrom tries for a spinning back kick. There are a lots of kicks being thrown. Low kick from Backstrom. Nice front kick and knee from Backstrom. WOW! Backstrom connects with a NASTY front kick and Wilkensen shrugs it off and knocks out Backstrom with a single punch!

Mike Wilkinson def. Niklas Backstrom via KO (punch) at 1:19 of round 1

Next up:

Illir Latifi vs. Jan Blachowicz

Round one:
Leg kick from Jan to start us off. Another nasty low kick from Jan. He has a 5.5 inch reach advantage. Both men showing a lot of respect for each other. Jan with a head kick attempt. Ilir has still not thrown anything. Niether man is willing to commit. Ilir explodes and connects with a lopping right. Jan spins away and avoids the swarm. Leg kick and a nasty body shot from Jan. Jan is all over Ilir. I think that body shot hurt Ilir. Jan follows Ilir to the cage and starts raining down bombs. Damn, it’s all over.

Jan Blachowitcz def. Ilir Latifi via TKO (body kick) at 1:58 or round one. 

Next up:

Akira Corassani vs. Max Holloway

Round one:

Polish Standout Jan Blachowicz Will Be Next Victim of ‘Latifi Era’ at UFC Fight Night 53 in Stockholm


(Whoa, he finally got a wikipedia page? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?? / Photo via MMAnytt.se)

Highly regarded light-heavyweight Jan Blachowicz has become one of Poland’s greatest home-grown talents, with a 17-3 record competing almost exclusively for the KSW promotion. Blachowicz hasn’t competed since March 2013, but he’s currently riding a five-fight win streak, including decision wins over UFC veterans Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Mario Miranda, Houston Alexander, and Goran Reljic.

Unfortunately, he’s about to get swallowed by the goddamned juggernaut that is Ilir “The Sledgehammer” Latifi. (Or Iliir Latifa, as it’s spelled traditionally.)

The UFC announced this morning that Blachowicz will make his Octagon debut against Latifi at UFC Fight Night 53, October 4th at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. (Only on Fight Pass!) Latifi is coming off a quick TKO of Chris Dempsey earlier this month, which came after his historic manhandling of Cyrille Diabate at UFC Fight Night 37 in March, in which no significant strikes were attempted by either fighter; Latifi won by guillotine choke after three minutes.

The fight marks Latifi’s return to competition in Sweden, following his unsuccessful UFC debut against Gegard Mousasi in April 2013. But true Latifi fans don’t really count that fight; the former non-wiki combatant was coming in to replace his training partner Alexander Gustafsson on short notice, and was unable to show us the real Latifi.

A main event for UFC Fight Night 53 hasn’t been announced yet. The current lineup is as follows…


(Whoa, he finally got a wikipedia page? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?? / Photo via MMAnytt.se)

Highly regarded light-heavyweight Jan Blachowicz has become one of Poland’s greatest home-grown talents, with a 17-3 record competing almost exclusively for the KSW promotion. Blachowicz hasn’t competed since March 2013, but he’s currently riding a five-fight win streak, including decision wins over UFC veterans Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Mario Miranda, Houston Alexander, and Goran Reljic.

Unfortunately, he’s about to get swallowed by the goddamned juggernaut that is Ilir “The Sledgehammer” Latifi. (Or Iliir Latifa, as it’s spelled traditionally.)

The UFC announced this morning that Blachowicz will make his Octagon debut against Latifi at UFC Fight Night 53, October 4th at the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. (Only on Fight Pass!) Latifi is coming off a quick TKO of Chris Dempsey earlier this month, which came after his historic manhandling of Cyrille Diabate at UFC Fight Night 37 in March, in which no significant strikes were attempted by either fighter; Latifi won by guillotine choke after three minutes.

The fight marks Latifi’s return to competition in Sweden, following his unsuccessful UFC debut against Gegard Mousasi in April 2013. But true Latifi fans don’t really count that fight; the former non-wiki combatant was coming in to replace his training partner Alexander Gustafsson on short notice, and was unable to show us the real Latifi.

A main event for UFC Fight Night 53 hasn’t been announced yet. The current lineup is as follows…

– Dennis Siver vs. Robert Whiteford
– Ilir Latifi vs. Jan Blachowicz
– Amir Sadollah vs. Nico Musoke
– Niklas Backstrom vs. Mike Wilkinson
– Ernest Chavez vs. Zubaira Tukhugov


(Same weight class. Just sayin’. / Photo via MMAViking)

[VIDEO] Can-Crushing Roundup: Pudzianowski and Blachowicz Victorious, Panajotovic Pulverizes Pathetic Foe


*sigh*

Sometimes, there’s no shame in being a can crusher. As much as we love watching close fights between our sport’s top fighters, some of our sport’s most entertaining finishes came to fruition because a fighter of reasonable competence was locked in the cage with an utterly hopeless ham-n-egger. There’s nothing wrong with pounding the bejesus out of a hapless jobber every once in a while, which is exactly what Mariusz Pudzianowski, Jan Blachowicz and Dusan Panajotovic did yesterday. Fortunately for us, they filmed it for posterity as well.

At thirty-five years old, “can crusher” is probably the ceiling for five-time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski’s MMA career. The odds of him ending up in the big leagues outside of his home country are pretty slim- which is perfect, because he seems more than content to smash freaks and nobodies in front of enthusiastic Polish fans. At yesterday’s KSW 20, Pudzianowski faced 4-1 Greek American prospect Christos Piliafas. All of Piliafas’ fights have ended by TKO- four of which in the first round. A technical grappling clinic this would not be, as Pudzianowski scored takedowns and eventually punched out Piliafas 3:48 seconds into round one. Unfortunately, videos of this scrap have quickly been taken off of YouTube. We know, we’re just as heartbroken as you are.

But as a consolation prize, we’re going to offer you KSW Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz’s successful title defense against Houston Alexander from the same card. A win over Alexander may not mean too much anymore, yet Blachowicz never appeared in trouble throughout the fight. Unfortunately, save for an armbar at the end of round one and a triangle choke at the end of round two, neither did Alexander. Okay, so it’s a pretty lousy consolation prize. Whaddayagonnado?


*sigh*

Sometimes, there’s no shame in being a can crusher. As much as we love watching close fights between our sport’s top fighters, some of our sport’s most entertaining finishes came to fruition because a fighter of reasonable competence was locked in the cage with an utterly hopeless ham-n-egger. There’s nothing wrong with pounding the bejesus out of a hapless jobber every once in a while, which is exactly what Mariusz Pudzianowski, Jan Blachowicz and Dusan Panajotovic did yesterday. Fortunately for us, they filmed it for posterity as well.

At thirty-five years old, “can crusher” is probably the ceiling for five-time World’s Strongest Man Mariusz Pudzianowski’s MMA career. The odds of him ending up in the big leagues outside of his home country are pretty slim- which is perfect, because he seems more than content to smash freaks and nobodies in front of enthusiastic Polish fans. At yesterday’s KSW 20, Pudzianowski faced 4-1 Greek American prospect Christos Piliafas. All of Piliafas’ fights have ended by TKO- four of which in the first round. A technical grappling clinic this would not be, as Pudzianowski scored takedowns and eventually punched out Piliafas 3:48 seconds into round one. Unfortunately, videos of this scrap have quickly been taken off of YouTube. We know, we’re just as heartbroken as you are.

But as a consolation prize, we’re going to offer you KSW Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz’s successful title defense against Houston Alexander from the same card. A win over Alexander may not mean too much anymore, yet Blachowicz never appeared in trouble throughout the fight. Unfortunately, save for an armbar at the end of round one and a triangle choke at the end of round two, neither did Alexander. Okay, so it’s a pretty lousy consolation prize. Whaddayagonnado?

One final note: Bob Sapp apparently retired after his most recent humiliating defeat, and quickly unretired to fight Dusan Panajotovic before anyone could actually enjoy him not being around. Despite the professionalism that Ultimate Fight Serbia tries to convey- and by the way, I can’t help but feel like I’ve seen their logo before – they booked Bob Sapp to fight and got exactly what they paid for. They got a YouTube hype video that looked like this:

And a fight that looked like this:

Any questions?

@SethFalvo