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.” Jan's eye 😳 #UFCVegas54 pic.twitter.com/XNeGwpQ4rx — Amy Kaplan (@PhotoAmy33) May 15, 2022 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. “I don’t know,” he said. “I feel it when it happened. It was in the beginning of the first round, one of the first punches. I don’t see anything in the first round with this eye. “[Commentator Michael Bisping] said it was a finger, Aleksandar said it was a punch.” UFC: Blachowicz sets up title shot, Rakic suffers gruesome knee injury With his win over Rakic, Blachowicz rebounded from a submission loss to Brazil’s Glover Teixeira, which marked the end of his reign as UFC light heavyweight champion. In victory, it is possible he will receive the next crack at the winner of an upcoming title fight between Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka, scheduled for UFC 275 on June 11 in Singapore. In fact, he is interested in attending the event live, provided his eye surgery is a success. “I hope so, that the UFC gives me another title shot, that I’m going to be next one,” he said. “I was No 1, Rakic was No 3. For me it’s obvious that I’m the No 1 contender now for the title shot. “I’ve never been in Singapore, so why not? I like travelling. I like being in new places. So if they want me I will go there. But first of all I need to fix the eye. I don’t know what they’re going to do.” Before losing to Teixeira, Blachowicz (29-9) was riding five straight victories over Israel Adesanya, Dominick Reyes, Corey Anderson, Ronaldo Souza and Luke Rockhold.