J. Blachowicz becomes UFC champion by knocking out D. Reyes. Photo: Reproduction/Inatagram @ufc_brasil
Nine years, that was how long the light heavyweight (93kg) waited to have a champion other than Jon Jones e Daniel Cormier. The owner of the historic feat was Jan Blachowicz, who defeated Dominick reyes by knockout, in UFC 253, an event held on Saturday (26) in Abu Dhabi.
At 37 years old, the Pole, who was the big underdog for the fight, surprised by having a very safe performance and achieved his fourth consecutive victory. Before the Blachowicz era began, the European athlete had overcome Corey anderson, Ronaldo Jacare e Luke Rockhold.
The fight
Despite having something very valuable at stake, the protagonists did not study themselves as much as imagined and went into action. The first minute of the fight was filled with low kicks from both sides and Reyes managed to land a good blow, which destabilized Blachowicz. The Pole showed that he recovered well by applying a beautiful follow-up to the American. The athletes continued to fight on their feet, focusing on striking. In the final part, Blachowicz went on the attack and it was his turn to destabilize Reyes, hitting his temple. The power of the Pole's kicks was so absurd that Reyes' right rib soon turned purple. It was clearer than ever that the duel was based on volume x power.
In the second round, Reyes, who felt the pressure and force of Blachowicz's blows, came back more attentive and tried to be more active, however, at the same time as he attacked, he offered openings. Calm and focused, the Pole reacted well to the North American's attacks and continued applying his sequences with the same initial power. In one of them, Reyes felt the blow and swayed in the octagon. Upon realizing that his opponent was in trouble, Blachowicz did not waste the opportunity to end the fight and knocked him out, striking him on the ground.
It is worth remembering that, in interviews and at the pre-event press conference, Blachowicz prophesied that he would beat Reyes by knockout in the opening rounds. Confident and excited, the new light heavyweight champion wasted no time and tried to challenge Jon Jones, who abandoned the belt to venture into heavyweight (120,2kg).
UFC 253 results
MAIN CARD
Average weight: Israel adesanya derrotou Paulo borrachinha by technical knockout at 3m59s of R2 – Title fight
Light Heavyweight: Jan Blachowicz derrotou Dominick reyes by technical knockout at 4m36s of R2- Title fight
Fly weight: Brandon royval finished Kai Kara France with a guillotine 48s from R2
Bantamweight: Ketlen Scallop derrotou sijara eubanks in the unanimous decision of the judges (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Feather weight: Hakeem dawodu derrotou Zubaira Tukhugov in the judges' split decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-38)
PRELIMINARY CARD
Lightweight: Brad Riddell derrotou Alex Leko in the unanimous decision of the judges (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Welterweight Weight: Jake matthews derrotou Diego Sanchez in the unanimous decision of the judges (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Feather weight: Ludovit Klein derrotou Shane Young by knockout at 1m16s of R1
Light Heavyweight: William knight derrotou Aleksa Camur in the unanimous decision of the judges (29-28, 30-27, 30-27)
Heavyweight: Juan Espino finished Jeff Hughes with a cervical 3m48s from R1
Light Heavyweight: Danilo Marques derrotou Khadis Ibragimov in the unanimous decision of the judges (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
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