Jan Blachowicz wants rematch with Alex Pereira: 'He is not a better fighter than me'

When former middleweight champion Alex Pereira left the 185-pound weight class and moved up to the light heavyweight division, he faced former titleholder Jan Blachowicz in his 205-pound debut.  

Pereira narrowly defeated Blachowicz via split decision in the UFC 291 co-main event in July 2023, but Blachowicz believes he won the fight.  He also doesn’t think Pereira is a better fighter than him.  

“He is not a better fighter than me, and I believe that I deserve the rematch,” Blachowicz told Fanatics View. “When he fight against me, I still believe that I won this fight.

“(Judges) see different scores, but I believe that I won this fight against him, and I believe that I deserve the rematch. He knocked out everybody – not me. When I come back, I believe that I can fight against him one more time.”

The loss to Pereira was the last time Blachowicz’ fought.  He’s been sidelined with nagging shoulder injuries.  He underwent double shoulder surgery and expects to be back in action at the end of the year.  

“So far so good.  Left hand is almost ready to fight, but the right hand, like five weeks ago I had surgery so it’s a completely new thing.  Everyday is a little bit better but still I need more time to recover and to fix correct.  I think my next fight will be the end of the year, not earlier.  For sure not earlier,” he said.  

In his absence, Blachowicz would like to see Pereira take on second-ranked Magomed Ankalaev.  He believes Ankalaev poses the biggest threat the champion.  

“I want to see Pereira against Ankalaev because this is the hardest opponent for him right now,” Blachowicz said. “Because I’m not in the division because I’m out for a couple more months. He is the most dangerous fighter for him.”