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Jan Blachowicz lost his light heavyweight title to Glover Texeira in the main event of UFC 267 last October. Blachowicz is now scheduled to headline a UFC Fight Night against No.3-ranked contender Aleksandar Rakic on March 26.
Light heavyweight contender and analyst Anthony Smith recently provided a break down of the upcoming bout between Blachowicz and Rakic. Smith believes Blachowicz deals well with kicks, which will give him an advantage over the kick-heavy attack of 'Rocket'.
During a recent appearance on the Believe You Me podcast, 'Lionheart' told Michael Bisping:
"Jan Blachowicz is so good at dealing with kick heavy fighters. It's really impressive. Like you just kind of go back and watch, he doesn't take that many kicks. People kick at him a lot because of the way he kind of plods forward. He dealt with the kicks from [Israel] Adesanya very very well, super impressive and everyone before that. So Rakic is a really kick-heavy guy, he's not much of boxer. And that's kind of how he started the whole problem with me. Just battered me with two real heavy kicks and my calf was toast after that. So I don't think he's gonna be very successful trying to win the kicking game. And he doesn't like being in boxing range."
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Watch Anthony Smith's appearance on Believe You Me below:
Anthony Smith gives his prediction for Jan Blachowicz vs. Aleksandar Rakic
According to Anthony Smith, Blachowicz is likely to defeat Rakic unless he gets knocked out. While Smith appreciates Rakic's grit, he believes Blachowicz has a better skillset. Smith further told Michael Bisping:
"Blachowicz is obviously a forward pressure guy, likes to stay in boxing range. I think he deals with kicks well. I think he is the better wrestler. Short of a, you know, big knockout I think the more technical guy and the guy that has more ways to win is Jan Blachowicz. But you can't take away the power and the crazy athleticism that Rakic has. And he's got, the dude's got bulletproof confidence, he's hard to shake."
Rakic defeated Anthony Smith in a 2020 UFC Fight Night main event. Despite feeling the power and talent the Austrian possesses, 'Lionheart' believes he'll fall short when he faces former champion Blachowicz later this year.
