Jan Blachowicz has been to the mountaintop and now he’s in the middle of a precipitous fall.
May 2022. That’s the last time Blachowicz left the octagon with his hand raised. And that bout ended in opponent Aleksandar Rakic being felled by an injury in the third round. For the last time Blachowicz had a truly definitive victory, you have to go further back to March 2021, when he put on an incredible performance to defend his light heavyweight title against Israel Adesanya and hand “The Last Stylebender”
his first-ever loss in MMA.
It’s been a while.
Now 43, Blachowicz is in a career-worst slump, with two losses and two draws heading into his co-main event bout with Navajo Stirling at UFC Belgrade this past Saturday. The undefeated Stirling was facing a huge step up in competition, but he made it look easy as he decimated Blachowicz to score a knockout in less than three minutes.
During Blachowicz’s walkout, commentator Jon Anik revealed that the Polish veteran is no longer able to lift weights due to it causing excessive discomfort. Perhaps that should have been a sign.
First and foremost, we need to give Stirling his flowers. The win looks like easy pickings now, but Stirling was taking a chance by accepting this fight on less than three weeks’ notice (Blachowicz’s originally scheduled opponent Bogdan Guskov had to replace an injured Khalil Rountree, resulting in a disastrous loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC Abu Dhabi last week) and against a Blachowicz who, even in defeat, had given tough fights to Carlos Ulberg, Alex Pereira, and Magomed Ankalaev, all three of which would go on to claim the 205-pound title.
Stirling finally cracks our rankings, debuting at No. 6 in a tie with PFL light heavyweight champion Corey Anderson. Just 28, Stirling is still developing towards his prime, and already sits just outside the top 5. Though his ascendancy is complicated by his friend and teammate Ulberg currently holding the UFC belt, Stirling seems destined to get his own shot to rule the division sooner rather than later.
As for Blachowicz, he falls four spots to No. 10, far closer to exiting the rankings—and possibly retiring—than the No. 1 spot that he once owned.
On a more positive note, we welcome former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker to the rankings after he made a successful light heavyweight debut against Nikita Krylov at UFC 329.
Check out the latest MMA Fighting light heavyweight rankings below.
Recent results for ranked fighters (previous ranking shown): No. 3 Magomed Ankalaev def. No. 12 Bogdan Guskov, Navajo Stirling def. No. 6 Jan Blachowicz, No. 12 MW Robert Whittaker def. No. 14 Nikita Krylov
Fighters also receiving votes (number of ballot appearances shown): Nikita Krylov (1), Muhammad Saidov (1), Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev (1)
Falling out of the rankings: No. 14 Nikita Krylov, No. 15 Aleksandar Rakic (moved to heavyweight)
