Jan Blachowicz challenged Jon Jones to return to light heavyweight after winning the UFC title with a knockout performance on Fight Island
- Jan Blachowicz is the UFC's newest champion, winning the vacant light heavyweight title after victory over Domonick Reyes.
- Blachowicz's power was the key difference between himself and Reyes.
- After the win, he challenged the division's former champion Jon Jones to return to the 205-pound weight class.
- It all went down during the co-main event on Fight Island, the first event of the UFC's second residency inside a quarantined bubble on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
- Watch the highlight below.
Jan Blachowicz challenged Jon Jones to return to the light heavyweight division after winning the UFC title with a knockout performance on Fight Island.
Blachowicz won the championship belt in the 205-pound weight class after his impressive power was one of the keys to success over Dominick Reyes at the behind-closed-doors UFC 253 show on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
It is the second Fight Island-branded festival as the UFC returns to the United Arab Emirates after a wildly successful four-event run over three weeks in July.
Now it's back at the Flash Forum with UFC 253, the first of five events in a near six-week residency, and multiple fighters created headlines because of their performances on Saturday, September 26.
Blachowicz was crowned the new light heavyweight champion with a blistering finishing sequence, approximately 45 seconds before the end of the second round.
Both fighters threw slugs and exchanged punches. After Reyes fired a kick at Blachowicz's head, the Polish puncher retaliated with a flurry of shots — a three punch combo followed by another two, with the final blow during a stand-up back-and-forth being a leg-buckling left hook.
From there, it was only a matter of time. Blachowicz floored Reyes and wailed shots down onto his opponent's cowering body until the referee had seen enough.
Reyes was in no fit state to continue. Blachowicz had won.
Watch the finish here:
"I still don't believe, but it's here. It's not a dream, right? It happened," Blachowicz said after finishing Reyes in the second round. "I have the legendary Polish power. I proved it one more time, amazing.
"It's been a long journey for me, sometimes I was on the top, then I lose a couple fights, but I never stop believing in my skills, in my power.
"Here I am, the champion," Blachowicz said. "Like I said before, even a pandemic can't stop me right now.
Blachowicz said he sensed the ending as soon as he felt he had broken Reyes' nose. "I saw that my left kick to his body, that he slowed down a little bit. I saw almost everything he did. In the second round, when I broke his nose, I knew that the finish will be soon.
"This is something that we prepared in our gym with coaches. On paper, we knew everything, and now in real life also. We do a great job in the gym. I am the champion."
Blachowicz challenged the former champion Jon Jones to a title fight
Blachowicz gave his post-match interview in the Octagon, the Polish flag draped over his shoulders, and the UFC belt wrapped around his waist. He immediately called-out Jon Jones.
The American former champion had reigned supreme, on-and-off for the entire decade prior to vacating the title earlier in the summer.
But Blachowicz challenged him to return to the division.
"I'm back to roots," he told reporters after leaving the arena. "When I'm back to roots with my old coach, I only lost one fight.
"This is what made me the best again, back to roots and believe in myself, that's it.
"This is something that I prepared if I won, so I had a few words for Jon Jones, so I just say it. I hope that he watched the fight and that he cuts his weight again and that we meet at 205."
Apparently interested in the bout, Jones responded on Twitter by saying: "Would you guys be annoyed if I went back and grabbed my belt real quick?"
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