Would a victory earn Jan Blachowicz a title shot?
In theory, Blachowicz’s ruthless finish of Rockhold could have, and possibly even should have, given him the nod for the next shot at Jon Jones’ light heavyweight title, given it came on the same stage as Jones’ UFC 239 title defense against Thiago Santos.
It was, after all, Blachowicz’s fifth win in his past six fights, three of them by way of finish, and 205 pounds is far from the sport’s deepest weight class.
But Jones, who recently defended his title three times in just over six months, culminating in the Santos fight, has suddenly gotten picky about his next opponent, perhaps because those past three fights didn’t bring in quite the expected revenue he thought his return to action would earn, and Blachowicz isn’t the most recognizable name on the marquee.
Instead, Blachowicz finds himself in a headline spot against another former middleweight star. Dominick Reyes has built his name at 205 in the meantime, so all Blachowicz can do here is continue doing what he’s been doing and hope it’s enough to get the title shot for which he’s been laboring in the UFC six years.
[opinary poll=”what-chance-would-you-give-jan-blachowic” customer=”mmajunkie”]