Newly-crowned UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz was a guest on Submission Radio recently.
Blachowicz claimed the vacant title with a victory over Dominick Reyes.
During the interview, Blachowicz discussed his desire to face Jon Jones, his performance vs. Reyes and more.
On fighting 20 men in a bar brawl when he was a bouncer
“I was a bouncer, so I’ve got a few [stories]. And also in the school when I was a kid, we had a small league in our school. Now I understand that MMA fighting was first in the school, so we always did something like this. Every day there was fighting in our school, someone fought against someone. Because everybody wanted to be the best in the school.”
“Maybe this is not a funny story, but one time there was just three of us working at the club, and we had a fight against 20 guys. And of course we lost the fight because it was too many of them. They just completely destroyed the club and us. But also, that was a good experience for the future.”
“Because after this we know what to expect. So, from this moment we were prepared for stuff like this, and it never happen again. So, that was a bad night for us, but now when I look to the past, it was funny.”
How it feels when he knocks somebody out with the Polish Power
“They feel different. My opponents feel different. I feel normal. I feel pleasure. But they feel all pain. Or nothing, because they go to sleep. So, ask them, not me. I feel pleasure that I can punch them and knock them out.”
On wanting Jon Jones
“For me, the best would be Jon Jones. But I think this is not real, it is not gonna happen. So, I think that my next opponent gonna be the winner against Glover Teixeira and Thiago [Santos]. But also, like you say, Adesanya is really good. So, we’ll see. I’ll have to wait a little bit. But for me personally, the best would be Jon Jones. He promised me this fight after when I knocked out Corey [Anderson], and I’m waiting for him. I believe in the future that I catch him somewhere, someday, anywhere.”
Why Jones doesn’t want to fight him
“You see what I did with Dominick. He just escaped because he doesn’t want to lose against me. I understand that. He is afraid and he went to heavyweight.”
Why he wants the Jones fight
“Yeah, I got the belt, but I just… I just want to beat him, you know, because he never lost. Just one loss, but that was some disqualification, so it doesn’t count. So, I want to be the one who beats him in the 205 division.”
“We will see, because I think that he is afraid of me and maybe I will never fight against him, because he don’t agree for this fight. So, I don’t know. But that would be nice to be the first one who beat him.”
“He just wants to escape against the legendary polish power, that’s why he go to heavyweight. He’s afraid of the legendary polish power. This is the answer.”
On possibly going back to heavyweight in the UFC and attempting to become Champ Champ
“I think in the future, for sure I want to go to heavyweight. But right now I’m focused on 205 and defend a couple of times the belt. But in future I think for sure I’m gonna be a heavyweight fighter.”
On Adesanya saying he wants to go to 205 and get the belt
“He can try, but he’s gonna go back to his division really fast if he’s gonna do this. And when he meets me, it’s gonna be the same like against Rockhold.”
“Everybody thinks they know me. They think I’m an easy fighter. But when cage, octagon door closes, they feel my power. I’m a completely different fighter. They never fight against someone like me. But I think they have to feel it on their skin. And this is the most simple answer, they just think they know me, but they never fight against someone like me, in the gym, in the sparrings, in the fight.”
“There is a UFC game on Playstation. So, if he chooses me in this game, then he’s gonna be the best in the 205 division. But not in real life. No way.”
Problems he brings to a possible Adesanya fight
“Because in 205, even when you train in the gym with the bigger guys, it’s training, it’s completely different. When you go and you change your division and he goes to 205, you’re gonna feel different power, different cardio, different timing. Everything is different. And that’s going to be the most hard and new for him. And that’s gonna be something that I do all my life. I’m all my life in 205, so it’s normal for me. And for him it’s gonna something that’s gonna be confusing for him.”
If he’d have a beer with Israel Adesanya after fighting him
“This is question for him. We will see if UFC is will make this fight happen. We will see what he’s gonna do, what he gonna talk to me, and after this I can answer.”
Who he thinks is his toughest test out of Jones, Adesanya, Thiago Santos and Teixeira
“I can beat all of them, but I think the rematch against Thiago will be the most tougher for me.”
On training with Thiago after losing to him and if it would be weird fighting him now
“For me, no. In the past I’ve fought against friends. I fought against my friend who I trained with in one tournament. And for me it’s a normal thing. Inside the cage, inside the octagon we are fighters, we are sportsmen. So, I can knock him out. I want to knock him out. But after the fight I can go and drink beer with him. So, for it’s not a problem. I will never drink beer with Rockhold because he is an asshole. But Thiago is normal. We are friends.”
If he’s interested in welcoming Anthony Johnson back to the division
“Yeah, we will see. Because he had a long break and we will see how he’s gonna look in his first fight and in the future, who knows.”
“It’s also one of the options. I should have had a fight against Anthony twice. Never happened. So, maybe one more try and the fight will make it. We will see.”
“We need to make to octagon, make a couple of fights and we will see how he gonna look.”