Jan Blachowicz is set to welcome Luke Rockhold to the light heavyweight division at UFC 239. The former middleweight champion is coming off of a knockout loss to Yoel Romero at UFC 221, while Blachowicz is coming off of a knockout loss to Thiago Santos back in February.
Although Rockhold is a former middleweight champion, many were hoping he would move up to light heavyweight, which he did. Now, the expectation is his chin will be better and he will be able to take more punches. And, according to his opponent, he believes that as he is preparing for the best Luke Rockhold there is.
“I’m going to be ready for the best Luke Rockhold ever – but we’ll see,” Blachowicz said on MMA Junkie Radio. “He hasn’t fought in a long time. He’s moved up a division. We’ll see how he’s going to move.”
Some problems Rockhold present to Blachowicz is the fact that he is a southpaw. But, the light heavyweight doesn’t believe that will be a problem as he has sparred with multiple southpaws for this camp.
“My whole life at my gym, I’ve had two or three southpaws,” Blachowicz said. “It’s nothing new for me. I’m going to be ready for him. I can fight at southpaw, normal position – so I know everything about his game.”
This is a crucial fight for both of them, as given Jon Jones is on the card, the winner could very well be fighting for the title next.
