Jan Blachowicz vs. Aleksandar Rakic has been rebooked for May.
The pair originally was scheduled to headline UFC on ESPN 33 on March 26, but Blachowicz withdrew due to injury. They will now square off in the main event of the UFC’s May 14 Fight Night event, which is likely to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
Two people with knowledge of the matchup recently informed MMA Junkie of the booking but asked to remain anonymous since the promotion has yet to make an official announcement. The news first surfaced when someone from Rakic’s camp posted about the fight.
Blachowicz (28-9 MMA, 11-6 UFC) will look to rebound after losing his light heavyweight title to Glover Teixeira this past October at UFC 267. Prior to that, the Polish fighter notched his lone title defense when he bounced UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya out of the ranks of the unbeaten at UFC 259.
Rakic (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) is coming off back-to-back decision wins over former title challengers Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos. Since losing his professional MMA debut, the 30-year-old has won 14 of his past 15. His only setback in that stretch came in a split decision to Volkan Oezdemir in December 2019.
With the addition, the UFC Fight Night lineup for May 14 includes:
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Aleksandar Rakic
- Ion Cutelaba vs. Ryan Spann
- Viviane Araujo vs. Andrea Lee
- Frank Camacho vs. Manuel Torres
- Jamall Emmers vs. Daniel Pineda
- Angela Hill vs. Virna Jandiroba
- Nick Maximov vs. Andre Petroski
- Jake Hadley vs. Allan Nascimento
- Davey Grant vs. Louis Smolka
