Sport
UFC Fight Night preview: Rakic and Blachowicz do battle
The UFC saw an incredible start to May with Charles Oliveira beating Justin Gaethje in the first round by submission in emphatic style.
This weekend promises another great event with an action-packed card in store where Aleksandar Rakic and Jan Blachowicz will face off in a crucial light heavyweight division clash.
Aleksandar Rakic v Jan Blachowicz
The meeting between these two exciting fighters will likely prove to have a major impact on the outlook of the division, with the winner expected to have the opportunity to fight for the light heavyweight title.
Both these fighters go into the weekend’s events having won four or their last five fights. However, Blachowicz is coming off a loss in his previous encounter with Glover Teixeira which may well play on his mind come fight night. Despite this, Blachowicz is a former champion and so will be desperate to have the opportunity to regain his title after losing it after only his second title defence. He’s 8/5 for victory.
The two fighters both possess knockout power, and although Rakic stands the taller of the two at 6’4” compared to Blachowicz at 6’2”, they have an identical reach of 78”. Although Rakic has made good use of his grappling in recent fights, he has become known for this explosive stand-up style of fighting. In addition, many of Blachowicz’s opponents on his journey to UFC champion stood with him and traded punches. Therefore, it looks likely that we will see an exciting stand-up encounter where boxing may well dominate the action. Rakic, who is the 1/2 favourite, is 15/8 to win by knockout, while Blachowicz is 5/2 to win by the same method.
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Katlyn Chookagian v Amanda Ribas
Katlyn Chookagian, who is ranked #2 in the world flyweight women’s division, will face off with Amanda Ribas in what should prove to be an exciting fight. Ribas is fighting at the 125lbs weight-class for only the second time in her career. She previously defeated Paige VanZant in her only other fight in this division.
Chookagian goes into the fight as the favourite to win on the night at odds of 8/15. Ribas has never fought someone of Chookagian’s calibre, and together with her relative inexperience in the flyweight division this match-up looks set to be a tough challenge for the Brazilian. However, Ribas has consistently grow in confidence in the strawweight division, with her only defeat coming to Marina Rodriguez, which she soon bounced back from. A win here would propel Ribas into immediate title contention, and so she will be highly motivated and fired up to get the win.
Chookagian has been an active fighter in the flyweight division with an exceptional record of 17 wins and four losses, with her only defeats coming at the hands of champion-level fighters. Her last defeat was via KO to Jessica Andrade, but she has since recovered and been on a three-fight win streak propelling her up the rankings and leading many to speculate that a win against Ribas would mean another title contention fight. Chookagian has a four-inch reach advantage over Ribas and she possess good boxing and kicks. However, of her 17 wins only two have come from KOs and she only has one career submission, and so we could see this fight go the distance with a decision result, and Chookagian is 13/10 favourite to win by that method.
Ribas, on the other hand, has won by KO or submission in seven of her 11 victories, and so with her dangerous striking abilities she may be keen not to let the fight go the distance. The odds for Ribas to win by KO, TKO, DQ or submission are 5/1.
