Earlier this year, Jan
Blachowicz achieved what some of the greatest fighters of all
time couldn’t manage to do: defend the UFC light heavyweight title.
This Saturday, he will attempt to join some truly exalted
company.
When Blachowicz turned back middleweight champ Israel Adesanya in his attempt at two-division glory at UFC 259 in March, he eclipsed some historic names including Mauricio Rua, Forrest Griffin and Randy Couture, who failed to defend the 205-pound title in either of his stints as champ. If Blachowicz can repeat the feat against 42-year-old Glover Teixeira this weekend at UFC 267, he will pass up one-time defenders Lyoto Machida and Quinton Jackson. That would propel the 38-year-old Pole into the rarefied territory occupied by all-time greats Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Frank Shamrock, the only fighters to defend the belt more than once.
At least we can say that as Blachowicz continues to stake his claim as one of the best light heavyweights ever, the doubters appear to be taking a week off, as the champ is set to enter the Octagon in Abu Dhabi this weekend as the betting favorite for only the second time in his last 10 fights.
When Blachowicz turned back middleweight champ Israel Adesanya in his attempt at two-division glory at UFC 259 in March, he eclipsed some historic names including Mauricio Rua, Forrest Griffin and Randy Couture, who failed to defend the 205-pound title in either of his stints as champ. If Blachowicz can repeat the feat against 42-year-old Glover Teixeira this weekend at UFC 267, he will pass up one-time defenders Lyoto Machida and Quinton Jackson. That would propel the 38-year-old Pole into the rarefied territory occupied by all-time greats Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Frank Shamrock, the only fighters to defend the belt more than once.
At least we can say that as Blachowicz continues to stake his claim as one of the best light heavyweights ever, the doubters appear to be taking a week off, as the champ is set to enter the Octagon in Abu Dhabi this weekend as the betting favorite for only the second time in his last 10 fights.
Ben
Duffy/Sherdog.com illustration
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