Jan Blachowicz ruined Luke Rockhold’s light heavyweight debut in devastating fashion at UFC 239, stopping the former middleweight champion in the second round in Las Vegas on July 6, and credits Michael Bisping as his inspiration.
Blachowicz rocked Rockhold late in the first round, but the AKA product was saved by the bell after a high kick to the head. The finish came in the following round, with the Polish talent dropping Rockhold with a powerful left hand.
At the post-fight press conference, Blachowicz said “it was my plan to hit him with the left hand” just like Michael Bisping did to stop Rockhold and win the 185-pound title back in 2016.
Blachowicz saw “in his eyes” that he still was “a little bit dizzy” when he came back to the second round after the hard kick in the final seconds of the first, and knew the end was close.
“I see the left hook when I prepared for this bout, in my dreams, when I do my mental training, so I just believe that I can hit him with this left hook,” Blachowicz said. “I watched how Bisping do this in his fight 10,000 times, so I just knew that it would come.”
Back to the winning column and now 5-1 over the last six bouts, Blachowicz believes his “biggest win is still somewhere in the future”. Asked if he deserves to be the next in line against Jon Jones, who defended his light heavyweight throne against Thiago Santos later that night at UFC 239, Blachowicz made his case.
“I don’t know. I think I deserve,” he said. “I beat Luke Rockhold, he’s a great fighter. I knocked him out. I’d like to, you know? Now is the best time for me.”