UFC Fight Night

Coming off of a spectacular pay-per-view event, the UFC will be returning to the APEX in Las Vegas this weekend for another thrilling night of fights.

He’s a very dangerous striker and if he can keep Blachowicz at range and not allow this to become a grappling match, this is his fight to win and possibly his title shot to claim. Spann is likely going to look to take this fight to the ground and it will be important for Cutelaba to not allow that to happen. Smolka has alternated wins and losses for his past six fights and is now coming off of a knockout loss his last time out. A former light heavyweight champion will look to regain glory in the main event against another top contender in a division that is very much there for the taking. Strategies will be interesting here but Grant is likely going to want to keep this fight on the feet. Coming off of a spectacular pay-per-view event, the UFC will be returning to the APEX in Las Vegas this weekend for another thrilling night of fights.

Andrew Gombas reveals his UFC Fight Night picks and best bets for Aleksandar Rakic vs. Jan Blachowicz.

Chookagian (17-4) is a six-year UFC veteran who is now the top-ranked contender in the division following a stretch in which she has won four of her last five and three straight. Visit SportsLine now to get detailed top picks on UFC Fight Night, all from the insider who's up more than $10,000 on MMA picks the past two years, and find out. Rakic and other fights on the UFC Fight Night card. Blachowicz (28-9), 39, is known for his lethal power and the stunning about-face his career trajectory took after it appeared his ceiling might be UFC journeyman at best. Rakic is a -175 favorite (risk $175 to win $100), while Blachowicz comes back at +155 in the latest UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs. I also expect Chookagian to wear on the cardio of Ribas by landing push kicks to the body," Gombas told SportsLine. Rakic defeated former title-challenger Thiago Santos at UFC 259 in March. You can only see who to back at UFC Fight Night here. Blachowicz won decisively on the scorecards despite the lack of respect from oddsmakers, who made him a 3-1 underdog. Rakic in sight, Gombas has studied the UFC card from every angle and released his top MMA picks. Rakic odds from Caesars Sportsbook. The co-main event also features light heavyweight prospects Ion Cutelaba (-210) and Ryan Spann (+180). Before locking in any picks of your own for UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs. Kattar dominated to win a unanimous decision and give his followers an easy winner. Jan Blachowicz can't explain why he wasn't himself in his last performance, which cost him the light heavyweight title he worked so hard to earn.

MMASucka provides live UFC Vegas 54 results throughout the evening as former champion Jan Blachowicz takes on Aleksandar Rakic in the main event.

Smolka will also be looking to bounce back from a loss as he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Vince Morales at UFC Vegas 44 in his last outing. Both those losses happened in the first round as Beneil Dariush submitted him at UFC Fight Night 162 followed by a TKO loss to Justin Jaynes at UFC on ESPN 11. Unfortunately, Spann will be coming into this fight coming off a loss as he suffered a first-round submission loss to Anthony Smith in Spann’s first UFC main event at UFC Vegas 37. As for Ribas, she enters the fight with just one recent win behind her as she defeated Virna Jandiroba by UD at UFC 267. Coming into this fight, Grant will attempt to snap a two-fight losing streak as he has suffered consecutive decision losses to Marlon Vera at UFC Vegas 29 and Adrian Yanez at UFC Vegas 43. In 2020, Cutelaba faced one opponent two separate times as he suffered back-to-back losses to Magomed Ankalaev that year, getting finished by TKO at UFC Fight Night 169 and by KO at UFC 254. Following the series of fights with Ankalaev, Cutelaba fought Dustin Jacoby to a split draw during their meeting at UFC Vegas 25. In the co-main event, light heavyweight fighters face off as Ryan Spann takes on Ion Cutelaba. Spann will be entering into this fight with a 1-2 record in his last three fights after beginning his UFC career 4-0. Since then, Rakic has put together back-to-back unanimous decision wins over Anthony Smith in the main event of UFC Fight Night 175 and Thiago Santos at UFC 259. In his next attempted defense of the title, Blachowicz would lose his belt as current champion Glover Teixeira submitted him in round two of their meeting at UFC 267. Jan Blachowicz won the UFC light heavyweight championship in 2020 at UFC 253 when he defeated Dominick Reyes by round two TKO to secure the vacant title. He bounced back from the loss by picking up a second-round knockout win over former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 239.

Complete UFC Vegas 54 fight card preview for the "Blachowicz vs. Rakic"-led event tonight (Sat., May 14, 2022) on ESPN2/ESPN+. Get UFC Vegas 54 start time, ...

As for Smolka, he is 2-3 over his last five fights and is coming off a a tough knockout loss at the hands of Vince Morales. In fact, his last three defeats have all come by way of stoppage in the very first round, so he is susceptible to being stopped. He did pick up a few impressive wins along the way, defeating the likes of Edson Barboza and Dustin Poirier, but he never quite built up the momentum he needed to get to a title shot. In the Bantamweight division, Davey Grant and Louis Smolka will throw down in what should be an entertaining scrap between two fighters hungry for a win. As for Nascimento, he is in search of his first UFC win after coming up short in his own debut at UFC 267, losing to Tagir Ulanbekov via split-decision. Candelario, meanwhile, came up short in his fight on the Contender Series, but still managed to score an invite to the promotion after starting off his career at 8-0. As for Camacho, he has had a rough go in his UFC career, losing two straight, four of his last five, and five of seven overall. Maximov won his first two fights with the promotion with wins over Cody Brundage and Punahele Soriano, and will now attempt to go for three straight and up his undefeated win streak to 9-0. He’s faced off against current division king, Glover Teixeira, losing via rear-naked choke, and top Middleweight contender, Jared Cannonier. That shows that he is battle-tested and his fight against Spann should be a barn-burner. Now, the Polish bomber will attempt to get back into a title fight by eliminating top-ranked contender, Aleksandar Rakic. Since making his UFC debut in 2017, Rakic has really made his presence felt, going 6-1 with his lone loss coming at the hands of a former title contender, Volkan Oezdemir, via a razor-thin split-decision. With Araujo ranked No. 8 and Lee at No. 9, the winner could very well make a great case to crack the Top 5. Of course, Blachowicz may have the power advantage but Rakic is accomplished with his hands and mixes his kicks in much better than his foe. Jan Blachowicz’s Cinderella run came to an abrupt end after he ran into the resurgent Glover Teixeira at UFC 267, losing to “Hands of Stone” via second-round submission ( see it again here). In the process, Blachowicz coughed up his Light Heavyweight strap.

Can Jan Blachowicz bounce back in his first fight since losing the UFC light heavyweight title? Is Aleksandar Rakic set to become the next No. 1 contender?

This one is either going to end in the first or be a Fight of the Night front runner and I’m leaning towards the former. It’s cool that Amanda Ribas decided to take this as a stay-busy fight after missing out on the chance to face Michelle Waterson in March, but there’s nothing fun about fighting Katlyn Chookagian as the perpetually cheery Brazilian is soon to find out. The name of the game for him against Allan Nascimento will be pressure, pressure, pressure. But I’m trusting Torres to keep his composure, control distance, and eventually hurt Camacho with a flurry before finishing on the ground. Nascimento brings great size to the flyweight division and tricky submission skills. As long as Hadley is smart and consistent with his approach on Saturday, he can match Ulanbekov’s performance. Grant has been a joy to watch ever since he embraced a free-swinging style, but I’m predicting that he breaks out his dormant submission skills for this one. He’s an elite finisher whose aggression can get the best of him and we’ve seen him suffer some ugly first-round losses in recent years. It would be a very Cutelaba way for him to lose this fight. Cutelaba will draw first blood and rock Spann, but “Superman” should have the steel to stay in the fight. Fans might not love the more methodical style he’s employed as he makes his way through the top 10 of the division, but Rakic is winning fights and he’s not taking much damage doing so. In Rakic, he has an opponent nine years his junior who is peaking physically and skill-wise.

UFC Vegas 54 live stream results, play-by-play updates for the Jan Blachowicz vs. Aleksandar Rakic-led MMA event streaming on ESPN2 and ESPN+ TONIGHT (Sat., ...

Two minutes to go. Two minutes to go. Two minutes to go. Two minutes to go. Two minutes to go. More punches two minutes in. Two minutes to go. Two minutes to go. Two minutes in. Two minutes in. Two minutes in. Two minutes in.

UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs. Rakic took place May 14 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, Nevada. Former UFC light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz (29-9) took ...

Round 3: Blachowicz smiling as Mark Smith gets them ready to go, and we’re off. Rakic lands a pair of short uppercuts, Blachowicz gets to his feet, but right as the horn sounds. Blachowicz has the right leg over the head of Rakic, possibly looking for a triangle and it’s locked in. Blachowicz moves in, but Mark Smith waves it off. Rakic is switching stances after some heavy leg kicks from Blachowicz. Rakic shoots, Blachowicz defends, and both land clean, with Blachowicz getting the better of it. Rakic with a right hand to the chest, the former champ answers with a body shot of his own. Final minute of the round and not much is changing in terms of position. Rakic sneaks an elbow in as Blachowicz isn’t in much of a hurry to improve his position with two minutes left. The jab of Rakic is starting to score early and often. The fight aired live on ESPN 2 and ESPN+. More leg kicks from Rakic, Blachowicz glances with a right hand over the top, but then scores with a hard kick to the body. UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs.

In the main event of the UFC Fight Night, Jan Blachowicz was awarded the TKO victory following a knee injury to Aleksandar Rakic.

Cutelaba was taking Spann down at will, however, Spann was consistently able to escape as well, and eventually, Cutelaba was just a bit careless as he attempted to return to his feet following a Spann scramble, and Spann immediately capitalized on the moment, catching Cutelaba with the fight-ending front choke. Once again, Ribas was able to take Chookagian down with a head and arm throw, and she began to work from the guard of Chookagian. Chookagian made it back to her feet with a minute remaining in the round and landed a strong right hand before time expired. I thought Hadley did his best work in the third round, but he was in need of a finish, and that desperation resulted in Hadley taking risks on the ground that Nascimento was able to capitalize on, ultimately taking the final round on the scorecards as well. Grant was really putting a beating on Smolka in the first round, but Smolka came back to win the second round, and it felt as though the momentum had swung going into the third. Chookagian landed the better shots on the feet throughout the remainder of this round, which I actually thought was enough to steal her back the round, but this was a close one. Lee followed her to the ground as she attempted to finish the fight, but Araujo showcased an insane level of recovery, and she was able to return to her feet, pick Lee up, and slam her down to the ground hard. Hadley returned to his feet in the final seconds of the round, but there was not enough time remaining for him to mount a round-stealing comeback. Johnson recovered and tagged Patrick with a left hand down the middle, before Patrick connected with a spinning attack, which resulted in the fighters going to the ground, where Johnson began to work from the guard of Patrick. Johnson landed some decent elbows from this position, and I thought he did enough damage here to steal back the round. Still, Hill was unable to escape from under Jandiroba until the final seconds of the round, and in all likelihood, this was another round for Jandiroba. 30-27 Jandiroba. Hill was clearly in pain from Jandiroba’s kneebar attempt, but Hill was able to escape and returned to the feet with just over two minutes remaining in the round. Taira followed him to the ground and quickly took his back as he looked to end the fight with a rear-naked choke. Taira changed levels and attempted to take Candelario down with a single leg, but Candelario defended the attempt before shooting for a takedown of his own that was also stopped.

Blachowicz secured an uncomfortable win over Rakic while Davey Grant, Manuel Torres and Michael Johnson went the more conventional route.

Despite having a severely compromised leg, Rakic still hobbled across the Octagon for the official ruling and to exchange friendly words with his opponent. Grant dropped Smolka in Round 1 with a jab and it appeared that he would maintain the striking edge for the rest of the fight. The referee immediately waved off the fight and awarded Blachowicz the TKO victory. Blachowicz returned to the lead leg kick early in Round 3, setting the tone for an unexpected and unfortunate finish. Smolka found a home for brutal elbows and managed to threaten submissions after settling in top control. Johnson has always had wicked hand speed and boxing power -- defeating the likes of Dustin Poirier, Tony Ferguson and Edson Barboza -- despite a near 50-50 pro record. Grant persevered and found his second wind in Round 3. Rakic found success with short punches and an elbow from inside the guard while managing to deny a triangle choke attempt by Blachowicz. The light heavyweights each found success with their strikes earlier, but it was Blachowicz that started to land the better boxing combinations. Jan Blachowicz may have found his way back to the UFC light heavyweight title by unexpected means. Rakic leaned into his wrestling in the second stanza, something he failed to implement in the opening round. Blachowicz and Rakic both committed to low leg kicks, primarily targeting the lead calf.