Aleksandar Rakic is hoping he can rematch Jan Blachowicz once he is healthy.
Rakic and Blachowicz headlined a card on May 14 in a crucial fight for the light heavyweight division. It was the first time Blachowicz was fighting since losing his belt, and the fight was close until Rakic’s knee gave out and he tore his ACL. That stopped the fight and Blachowicz was given the win.
Now, as Rakic begins to rehab his knee, he says he has unfinished business with Blachowicz and wants the rematch.
Aleksandar Rakic vs Jan Blachowicz Rematch?
“Of course Jan is searching for that title fight, but come on,” Rakic told MMA Junkie. “We have to be honest, he can’t be happy with that win. He didn’t beat me because he was the better man that night, he beat me because I beat myself. I injured myself so yeah now he’s talking he wants to go to middleweight to fight Adesanya, then he said he would welcome Usman to 205.
“Doesn’t make really sense, but I waited on him when he was injured, so let’s be a gentleman and wait for me and let’s finish this business because this is unfinished business,” Rakic continued. “He’s a true warrior, true athlete, I respect him, but this is unfinished business and I know I can beat him, and if this didn’t happen that night, my knee didn’t pop out, I would be No. 1 contender and going to fight for the belt next.”
Who Was Winning Rakic vs Blachowicz?
Although on the judges’ scorecards, the fight was tied at 19-19, Aleksandar Rakic thought he was starting to take over and was confident he would get the finish.
“I trained really hard for that one, especially the cardio base because we knew it was gonna be my first five-round fight, and I know that I have better conditioning than Jan,” Rakic said. “The plan was to pick him apart. After the second round to see how things were going, to work on the takedowns, to get him tired, and then to mix things up in the stand up.”
“Because I felt already beginning of the third round he was already a little bit slower,” Rakic continued, “he was breathing heavy, and if you rewatch the fight, my hands were faster than in the first round. So it took me a while to put the heartbeat up, but the plan was to put the fight as long as possible, to drag him to the deep waters and win by pressure and then maybe TKO or submission.”
