Aleksandar Rakic says the knee injury that stopped his main event fight against Jan Blachowicz happened a couple of weeks ago in training camp.
Saturday night was the first time Rakic fought in over a year as he was waiting for the right matchup and got the chance to fight the former champ. The opening two rounds were very even and Rakic had said his plan was to go late into the fight and start taking over. However, in the third round, after Blachowicz was landing heavy leg kicks throughout the fight, his left knee gave out and the fight was called off.
It was a disappointing way for the fight to end and after the loss, Rakic took to Instagram to release a statement on the fight and revealed he suffered this injury three weeks ago. The Austrian also wants to run it back with Blachowicz when he is healthy.
“A great battle took place in the octagon tonight but unfortunately it ended not the way Jan and I or the fans wanted. The same damn injury from 3 weeks ago in camp showed up again tonight. I felt I won both rounds, round one being close but round two was just mine then I opened up really good even in the third before my knee buckled.
“Knowing the fact that my cardio was off the chart ( with a heart beat at 36 in sleep ) I would start to picking him apart from third round on but it is what it is. Congratulation to Jan and I wish him the best. I will take care of this injury and come back like you never seen me before. This is a unfinished fight between Jan and I and I really hope @ufc gives me a REMATCH,’ Rakic wrote on Instagram.
With the loss, Aleksandar Rakic dropped to 14-3 and had his two-fight win streak snapped. Prior to the setback, he beat Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith by a decision to rebound after dropping a split decision to Volkan Oezdemir. He also holds wins over Jimi Manuwa, Devin Clark, Justin Ledet, and Francimar Barroso in the UFC.
Although Rakic wants to rematch Blachowicz, the focus right now is rehabbing his knee and getting healthy again.
