UFC light heavyweight contender Jimi Manuwa has been teasing fight news for several days, and now, his next fight is official. The Brit will return to the cage in his native London, England this March 17. His opponent will be Poland’s Blachowicz.
Manuwa announced this fight on his official Twitter account.
LONDON STAND UP!! ☝🏾 🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁 @UFCEurope this time on my turf !!! ☝🏾 pic.twitter.com/MJLEDQ2VsP
— JIMI MANUWA (@POSTERBOYJM) January 4, 2018
Manuwa and Blachowicz have met once before, having battled back in April of 2015. On that night, Manuwa came out on top with a decisive unanimous decision win.
From there, Manuwa lost his next fight, succumbing to a second-round Anthony “Rumble” Johnson knockout. He then rebounded in his next two outings, authoring beautiful knockouts of Ovince Saint Preux and Corey Anderson, but unfortunately returned to the loss column in his most recent fight, losing by knockout in a July bout with Switzerland’s Volkan Oezdemir. Manuwa is 17-3 overall.
Blachowicz, meanwhile, followed his loss to Manuwa with another decision loss to Corey Anderson. From there, he defeated Igor Pokrajac by decision, before giving up decisions to Alexander Gustafsson and Patrick Cummins. More recently, he has rebounded with an impressive submission win over Devin Clark, and a decision defeat of Jared Cannonier. The Polish fighter is 21-7 overall.
While this should be an exciting bout, Manuwa was vocal in his desire for a fight with Glover Teixeira, who won big with a stoppage defeat of Misha Cirkunov back in December.
The only fight that makes sense @gloverteixeira no3 vs no4 #UFCLONDON #LIONSEATFIRST ☝🏾 pic.twitter.com/I43NcqpGQt
— JIMI MANUWA (@POSTERBOYJM) December 17, 2017
Apparently, however, the UFC believed a Blachowicz rematch was the more sensible fight for Manuwa.
Who do you think comes out on top in this UFC London rematch between Jimi Manuwa and Jan Blachowicz? Make your pick in the comments section!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/3/2018.