A spinal injury has forced former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz out of his scheduled March main event matchup with Aleksandar Rakic.
In a Friday morning post to his Instagram account, Blachowicz (28-9) announced that an injury to his spine has led to his removal from a planned bout with third-ranked light heavyweight Rakic (14-2) on March 26. The booking was set to headline the promotion’s event in Columbus, Ohio.
Jan Blachowicz out of UFC Columbus fight against Aleksandar Rakic
“Unfortunately I will not fight March 26th at #UFCColumbus. I have an injury in my spine around the neck area. That makes it impossible to train with heavy weights. I need to fix that now,” Blachowicz wrote. “I hope we will meet with @rakic_ufc in the Octagon in the first half of this year.”
It is unclear at this point if the bout will be rescheduled for the second quarter of the year, or if “Rocket” will remain on the card and be paired up with a new opponent in the top-15. However, following Blachowicz’s post, Rakic responded to the former division king with well wishes and alluded to a possible rescheduling down the road. “Get well soon and fast recovery @janblachowicz. See you later this year. All the best,” Rakic wrote via his Twitter account.
Since joining the UFC in Sept. of 2017, the Austrian-born Rakic has won six of his seven Octagon appearances. His lone loss came to one-time title challenger Volkan Oezdemir by split decision in 2019. The bout with Blachowicz would have been his second headlining spot in the promotion.
Whenever he does next return to action, Blachowicz will be looking to bounce back from his October title fight loss to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267. The defeat was the wielder of “Polish Power’s” first setback in nearly three years. The loss to Teixeira ended a five-fight win streak and his reign as UFC light heavyweight champion.
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