Former champion challenges Poatan to rematch: 'I won the first fight'

Even though he is one of the most intimidating champions in MMA history, there are still people interested in facing him. Alex Poatán. Former UFC light heavyweight champion (up to 93 kg.) Jan Blachowicz expressed interest in fighting the Brazilian once again, in an interview with the North American website 'Bloody Elbow'.

“I would like to fight at the end of the year, but I don’t think they will find anything for me – maybe at the beginning of next year. (I would like to face) Pereira because I believe I won our first fight. You can agree or not, I don’t care. That’s my opinion, a lot of people saw that the judges made mistakes in that fight,” said the Pole.

Alex Poatan vs Jan Blachowicz

The two faced each other for the first time in July 2023 in Salt Lake City, UFC 291. After three very even rounds, Poatan was declared the winner by split decision, in one of the most difficult clashes of the Brazilian's career.

Alex Poatán (left) strikes Jan Blachowicz (dir.) in UFC 291. Photo: Reproduction/Twitter @UFC Japan

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Since then, Blachowicz has not returned to the octagon. At 41 years old, the Polish fighter was forced to heal some injuries. He underwent surgery on his shoulders and now feels capable of returning to the top of the division where he reigned between 2020 and 2021.

“A few months ago, I had my first surgery on my left shoulder, it should have been an easy surgery, but when they opened my shoulder, they saw that it was a huge mess. After three months, I had the same thing done on my right shoulder… But now both of them are working, I feel strength again, I feel speed – I feel everything that I lost, so I feel good,” he said.

According to the athlete, the problems were chronic, to the point where he considered abandoning his career due to the lack of strength in his punches.

“For a while, about 5 years ago, I felt like something was going on with my shoulder and every year it got a lot worse – I lost about 40% of my power, it just disappeared, so I said, ‘Okay, if I want to fight at a high level, I need to fix this because if not, I’m going to retire,’” he added.

Alex Poatán He is the current UFC light heavyweight champion. (Photo: Reproduction/Instagram)