A physical specimen at six-foot-four with an outstanding kickboxing pedigree, “Poatan” earned four victories in 53 weeks to ascend to the top of the middleweight division, completing his journey by collecting a fifth-round stoppage win over his former kickboxing rival Adesanya in the main event of UFC 281 at Madison Square Garden last November.
He dropped the belt back to the City Kickboxing representative in April, felled by a swift, precise combination in the second round before quickly announcing his plans to relocate.
This Saturday, he makes the walk at light heavyweight for the first time, and Blachowicz is looking forward to welcoming him to the division, fully aware of the dangers facing Pereira presents and eager to test himself against him, just as he did against Rockhold, Souza, and Adesanya in the past.
“It’s not a secret that he’s a standup fighter — one of the best in the world; it’s hard to find a better striker — but I also like this part of the game, so I will try my standup against his,” he said. “I have to be careful in this part of the game — good knees, good kicks; left hand is very dangerous — so I need to keep my hands very high, all the time, but I want to try.
“It’s not a secret that if I have an opportunity to take him down, I will take him down, but I will not as soon as the fight starts just go to a takedown — I need to check my standup against his,” Blachowicz added. “If something goes wrong, I will wrestle, and when I take him down, the game will be mine; I will be the boss there.”
Remaining unbeaten against middleweight invaders is important for Blachowicz, chiefly for the pride that comes with constantly turning back former champions looking to make waves in a division he has always called home, but also because a win over Pereira this weekend likely puts him in a position to once again challenge for the UFC light heavyweight title.
“4-0 sounds very good for me,” he said with a wide smile when asked about attempting to turn back Pereira on Saturday. “I have to keep this record — clean. I’ll do everything that I can, I’ll use all the tools to keep them with an “0” against me.
“I know if I beat Pereira, my next fight will be for the title,” he said assuredly. “Jamahal has a serious injury and I wish him a fast recovery, but my next opponent after Pereira will be Prochazka, because I think he’s finished with his shoulder, everything is okay, and that’s going to be a great fight with him somewhere in Europe.
“But first, I’m focused on Alex Pereira this Saturday, and after that, we can talk about the next step.”
