UFC: Jan Blachowicz to undergo eye surgery, says ‘I couldn’t see anything’ in Aleksandar Rakic win

Blachowicz suffers nasty cut to his left eye during first round of UFC Vegas 54 main event on Saturday night

Former champ plans to attend Glover Teixeira vs Jiri Prochazka title fight in Singapore if he is able to ‘fix the eye’

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Jan Blachowicz of Poland poses on the scale at the UFC Vegas 54 weigh-ins. Photo: Zuffa LLC

Published: 2:24pm, 15 May 2022Updated: 2:45pm, 15 May 2022

Jan Blachowicz picked up a sorely needed victory at UFC Vegas 54 on Saturday night, but he did not leave the Octagon unscathed.

The 39-year-old former light heavyweight champion returned to the cage in the main event, taking on No 3 ranked contender Aleksandar Rakic in Las Vegas.

He won the fight via third-round TKO after felling the Austrian with a kick to the knee, but suffered an eye injury in the first round that will require surgery.

“It’s OK, but I’m going to have some small surgery on Monday on this eye,” the Polish striker said at the post-fight press conference. “Doctor says maybe it’s going to be small, maybe going to be bigger. He don’t know yet. He need to check in the hospital.”

Blachowicz remembers when the injury occurred, but does not know if it was the result of a punch or an inadvertent eye poke.

Regardless, he says the strike compromised his vision in the first round.