Jan Blachowicz and Aleksandar Rakic both require surgery following three rounds of action in the main event of UFC Fight Night on Saturday, May 14. Blachowicz defeated Rakic via third-round TKO after Rakic blew his knee out.
Injuries were woven into the fabric of Saturday’s headliner. The fight was waved off after Rakic took a back step and his leg gave out. Blachowicz revealed post-fight that he was having trouble seeing out of his left eye courtesy of a Rakic strike.
Rakic underwent an MRI on Monday that confirmed he tore the ACL in his right knee, according to MMA journalist Ariel Helwani. This is the first injury of this nature that Rakic suffered on his right leg. He previously suffered two ACL tears on his left knee. An ACL tear usually requires six months to one year of recovery and rehabilitation time.
“One thing I promise you, I will be back better than ever!” Rakic captioned an Instagram post on Monday. “This is not over yet. Unfinished business. Rematch! I waited for you to heal. Now you wait for me to heal. Let’s run it back!”
Blachowicz suffered a cut under his left eye that may have damaged his tear duct. The owner of legendary Polish power celebrated on Sunday before heading into surgery on Monday.
“So we did a small surgery, they fixed my eye,” Blachowicz said on Monday in an Instagram Story. “They put something inside for six weeks. Some kind of tube. So after six weeks, I need to take it out. That’s it. I still feel the drugs they gave to me and I enjoy it very much.”
Blachowicz was informed immediately after his fight on Saturday that he would require surgery. The former UFC light heavyweight champion relayed the information to reporters at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.
“I’m going to have some small surgery Monday on this eye,” Blachowicz said. “Doctors say, maybe going to be small, or maybe going to be bigger. He doesn’t know yet. He needs to check.”
More UFC news, rumors
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