Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone, as UFC Fight Night 145 — which aired on UFC on ESPN+ — blew the roof off O2 Arena in Prague, Czech Republic last Saturday (Feb. 23, 2019).
Plenty of fighters were left licking their wounds, including Marcos Rogerio de Lima, who was submitted by Stefan Struve in the co-main event of the evening (see it again here). And John Dodson, who suffered his second straight defeat for the first time in his combat sports career after coming up short against Petr Yan.
But which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now 48 hours removed from the show?
Jan Blachowicz.
Going into his first-ever headlining fight against Thiago Santos, Jan pretty much knew what was at stake. A win over “Marreta” would put him at the forefront of the championship conversation, and could set him up for a Light Heavyweight title fight against the winner of Jon Jones vs. Anthony Smith, set for UFC 235.
With all of that at stake, Jan played the patience game against the power-hitting Brazilian, who has shown time and again he can end a fight in the blink of an eye with one of his laser-accurate missiles. For the first two rounds, Jan played it cool, kept his distance and attacked when he saw a little opening, carefully avoiding the power shots.
The strategy worked well for him for the first 10.5 minutes, until he got careless just for a split second. Jan uncharacteristically went in overly-aggressive perhaps in an attempt to clip his foe. Instead, he was the recipient of a clean left hook right on the chin that dropped him like a sack of potatoes. From there, Thiago jumped on his fallen opponent and delivered one shot after another until referee Herb Dean finally stepped in to put an end to the punishment.
The loss puts an end to Jan’s longest win streak inside the Octagon (four), and temporarily halts his championship dreams. But it’s not the end of the road for the former KSW champion, as he has obviously shown he can rack up some wins in a hurry. But, it will be a tougher climb up for Polish-born fighter.
“Thiago was better today, but it’s not my last word. I will still chase my dream. I will be back stronger. Thank you for the support,” wrote Blachowicz on social media.
Up next for Jan should be a showdown against Glover Teixieria. Glover got back on the winning track earlier this year by submitting Karl Roberson at UFC on ESPN+ 1 this past January. While Glover may not be the same fighter that once competed against Jon Jones for the 205-pound title back in 2014, he’s still a tough out for anyone.
Teixiera is a good bounce back fight for Jan, and a win over an established fighter such as Glover can get Blachowicz’s momentum going again.
Any objections?
For complete UFC Prague results and fight coverage click here.
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