Jan Blachowicz vs Alex Pereira, UFC 291, Jan Blachowicz, Alex Pereira

Jan Blachowicz vs Alex Pereira scheduled for UFC 291

Former champions Jan Blachowicz vs Alex Pereira scheduled for UFC 291

The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Salt Lake City, Utah on July 29, 2023, and this is one you don’t want to miss!

Headlining the UFC 291 event is a lightweight rematch between former interim champions Dustin Poirier (29-7) and Justin Gaethje (24-4).

There’s also a very intriguing light-heavyweight encounter going down at this event, presumed to be the co-main event of the evening, as former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz (29-9-1) faces former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira (7-2).

We heard Alex Pereira state he was moving up to 205 lbs following defeat to Israel Adesanya last month at UFC 287, and it’s exciting to see he’s already got his next bout lined up. What’s more exciting is who it’s against; Blachowicz the first man to defeat Israel Adesanya in MMA, just as Pereira defeated Adesanya in both MMA and kickboxing.

Both Blachowicz and Pereira got their starts in kickboxing, though Pereira had much more success in the sport, becoming the first ever two-division GLORY champion. But, his title reign in the UFC was short, as he lost his belt just five months after claiming it without a single defense.

Blachowicz’ title reign was also relatively short-lived, only winning it against Dominick Reyes, and defending it against Adesanya before losing it to Glover Teixeira, someone Pereira has trained with since 2020.

In Blachowicz’ most recent appearance he battled to a draw against Magomed Ankalaev in a vacant title fight last December.

Both men are looking to get back on the winning track with a victory this summer.

Who do you see coming out on top in this epic light-heavyweight encounter going down at UFC 291?

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Brady Ordway
I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!