In a light heavyweight bout for the vacant title, #1 Dominick Reyes faces #3 Jan Blachowicz live at Fight Island in Abu Dhabi this Saturday and on pay-per-view in the USA.
This fight will be to crown a champion for superstar Jon Jones’ vacated title. It was just over a month ago that the official announcement of Jones vacating his belt reached the public, a controversy that stemmed from his salary at UFC.
Even before it became official, the UFC had already been looking into pinning Reyes and Blachowicz for a chance at the belt, and this fight serves as the co-main event for UFC 253.
Reyes will enter the fight 12-1 with an average fight time of 9:07. The 6-foot-4 southpaw-stance fighter is also half a decade younger as his opponent. Reyes was a perfect 6-0 in his UFC career before meeting Jones in the octagon, a fight that lasted under two minutes.
Aside from that loss, Reyes’ fights have either gone the distance and ended in a decision for the 30-year-old or have been over before the end of the first round. Throwing 4.88 significant strikes per minutes, Reyes is one of the more aggressive fighters in his class.
That’s served him well so far as he’s thrown more significant strikes than his opponent in all seven of his UFC bouts. “The Devastator” doesn’t have much desire to grapple, averaging .24 takedowns per 15 minutes. If it’s his call, this fight will be purely striking.
His opponent may have something to say about that. Blachowsicz is much more proactive towards grappling, securing 1.16 takedowns per 15 minutes. With 52 percent accuracy, he has multiple UFC victories by submission. Having started off his UFC career on the wrong foot, Blachowsicz is coming into this bout having won seven of his last eight fights.
His most notable victory was over #9 Nikita Krylov, and he’s also recently beaten Corey Anderson and Jacare Souza. However, on his record is also a third-round loss to #2 Thiago Santos. With a 26-8 record in MMA, Blachowsicz headlined a Fight Night back in February but hasn’t fought since.
Here are the betting odds at DraftKings Sportsbook for Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Blachowicz at UFC 253 on September 26th.
Money line odds
Dominick Reyes: -286
Jan Blachowicz: +230
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