Former UFC champion Jan Blachowicz has delivered a statement following his rear-naked choke defeat to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267.
The UFC event took place on Fight Island, in Abu Dhabi UAE. With the return of rising powerhouse Khamzat Chimaev, the card was rich with storylines following the historic event. “Borz” continues to shatter expectations and earned himself another fast finish when he took top-ranked Jingliang Li to the cleaners. With the most recent victory, Chimaev expanded his record to 10-0 with all of his success coming by way of finish.
Then, Petr Yan claimed interim bantamweight gold against Cory Sandhagen. The fight was action-packed with wild spinning techniques, flying knees, and ridiculous combinations. By the end of the night, both 135-pound fighters would fight to the judge’s scorecards. In the end, Yan’s late-game aggression once again sealed gold. But the night truly capped off something special, and that of course happened when Glover Teixeira secured a UFC strap at the age of 42.
Unfortunately, the success of Teixeira would come at a cost, and Jan Blachowicz paid a high price in the aftermath. The Pole admits that he might have left his signature ‘legendary Polish power’ back in the hotel room. Blachowicz attempted to get his motor running by the end of round one, but looked visibly frustrated as he sat waiting for the round two bells to ding. After being stunned in the second round, he was eventually taken down, and Teixeira’s patented top pressure ran its course until torquing on a rear-naked choke forced the champion to submit.
Former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz assured his fans that he will be back and shared his first message on Instagram since enduring the defeat.
“🇺🇸 Today I left the legendary polish power in the hotel room. Congrats to Glover, who won fair and square, well deserved. Remember that the last pages of my story are still unwritten. Thank you for all the support.
#UFC267 #InAbuDhabi #browarzamkowycieszyn #NoszakZCieszyna ” Jan Blachowicz shared.
The former champion issued an optimistic message in defeat. Prior to his submission loss to Teixeira, the 38-year-old picked up the biggest win of his career when he handed Israel Adesanya his first professional MMA loss. The former 205-pound titleholder holds notable victories over Ronaldo Souza, Corey Anderson, and Dominick Reyes. This marks the Pole’s first defeat since 2019 when he suffered a TKO loss to #5-ranked Thiago Santos. Both competitors entered the UFC 267 main event on a five-fight winning streak.
