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UFC light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz had the most impressive win of his MMA career at UFC 259, outpointing Israel Adesanya to defend his title for the first time.
According to UFC President Dana White, Glover Teixeira is next for Jan Blachowicz – but there are also several new light-heavyweight contenders waiting in the wings.
It looks like the Blachowicz vs. Teixeira fight could go down in September or October. So when that is all said and done, who could challenge for the UFC light-heavyweight title next?
Here are five UFC light-heavyweight contenders who could make a title run in 2022.
#1 Aleksandar Rakic (Last fight: Defeated Thiago Santos at UFC 259)
Like Jan Blachowicz, Aleksandar Rakic also had his hand raised at UFC 259.
The Austrian fighter defeated former UFC title challenger Thiago Santos in the opener of the show’s main card. However, unlike Blachowicz, Rakic didn’t gain rave reviews for his performance.
Instead, the Austrian was largely criticized for an approach that valued safety more than anything. Rakic clearly won the fight, but never really opened up on ‘Marreta’, probably because of his respect for the Brazilian’s striking power.
However, it’s hard to deny that this was a smart game plan. After all, Santos hits as hard as any fighter in the UFC at 205 lbs and is even responsible for the last loss suffered by Blachowicz.
And so the fact that Rakic so clearly outpointed him suggests that he’s very much a possible UFC Light-Heavyweight title contender.
With serious striking power of his own, tremendous athleticism and a strong grappling game, the Austrian has the tools to beat anyone in the UFC at 205 lbs.
Rakic will probably need to fight at least one more time to earn a title shot after he failed to impress at UFC 259. But if he can pick up one big win, it’d be hard to deny his claim.
#2 Magomed Ankalaev (Last fight: Defeated Nikita Krylov at UFC Vegas 20)
Magomed Ankalaev seems to be flying under the radar for the most part. However, the native of Dagestan may well be the most dangerous Light-Heavyweight operating in the UFC.
Ranked at #7 in the UFC’s rankings, Ankalaev most recently defeated Nikita Krylov to extend his winning streak to six fights.
He’s only lost once in the UFC thus far, suffering a stunning defeat to Paul Craig – who submitted Ankalaev in the last second of a fight that the Dagestani was easily winning.
Outside of that, Ankalaev has been perfect. His wrestling is incredibly powerful, he’s a beast from the top, and he carries heavy knockout power in his strikes, too – with four UFC knockouts to his name.
Judging from what we’ve seen thus far, Ankalaev could well be considered the UFC Light-Heavyweight division’s counterpart to Khabib Nurmagomedov.
‘The Eagle’ famously took a long time to get to the top of the UFC Lightweight division, but once he did, he ruled it with an iron fist.
So could Ankalaev see a similar rise at 205 lbs? It’s possible. One more impressive win in 2021 would put him into title contention – meaning a fight for the gold in 2022 wouldn’t be too far away.
#3 Misha Cirkunov (Last fight: Defeated Jimmy Crute at UFC Fight Night 158)
In the modern-day UFC, it’s rare to see a specialist fighter having success, but Misha Cirkunov is one of the exceptions.
A true throwback, Cirkunov is arguably the UFC Light-Heavyweight division’s best grappler.
The Latvian-Canadian debuted in the UFC in 2016 and has put together a record of 6-3 in the years that have followed, picking up wins over the likes of Jimmy Crute and Nikita Krylov.
Cirkunov is a muscular fireplug of a fighter, and if he can get an opponent to the ground, he’s very difficult to stop. He possesses a brutal ground-and-pound game and an array of nasty submissions.
His striking is still a work in progress – he’s suffered three knockout losses in the UFC – but if he can close that gap in his game, then it’s hard to see many UFC Light-Heavyweights having success against him.
Cirkunov faces Ryan Spann this weekend at UFC Vegas 21, in what will be his first fight in over a year.
If he can show some striking development there and win, there’s no reason he can’t put together enough of a run to move into title contention when 2022 rolls around.
#4 Johnny Walker (Last fight: Defeated Ryan Spann at UFC Vegas 11)
Back in mid-2019, when Jon Jones ruled the UFC Light-Heavyweight division, fans around the globe were clamoring for one man to fight the longtime champ.
His name? Johnny Walker.
The Brazilian exploded onto the UFC scene with a knockout of Khalil Rountree in late 2018 and then took a combined 51 seconds to stop both Justin Ledet and Misha Cirkunov in the early part of 2019.
Subsequent back-to-back losses to Corey Anderson and Nikita Krylov derailed him shortly after, but since then, Walker has bounced back with a big knockout of Ryan Spann.
Unpredictability is Walker’s game. The Brazilian is huge for a 205 lber, standing at 6’6”, and he loves to unload reckless strikes at his opponents from bizarre angles.
Admittedly, this tendency makes him vulnerable, but it also makes him arguably the most dangerous fighter in the UFC Light-Heavyweight division, period.
Walker has the capability to take out any fighter he faces if he can land on them. That means that more than any other fighter at 205 lbs, he can put together a run that could propel him to a UFC title run in 2022.
#5 Jiri Prochazka (Last fight: Defeated Volkan Oezdemir at UFC 251)
Czech fighter Jiri Prochazka brought a pretty big reputation to the UFC after defeating the likes of King Mo Lawal and Vadim Nemkov in Japan’s Rizin promotion.
But nobody expected him to make such a big splash in his octagon debut at UFC 251 in July 2020.
‘Denisa’ needed just two rounds to take out former UFC Light-Heavyweight title challenger Volkan Oezdemir, knocking him out with a vicious combination that left the Swiss fighter unconscious.
It was only the second time Oezdemir had been stopped by strikes in his UFC career, and the first time he’d been knocked out cold.
Prochazka is not as established in the UFC as some of his rivals, but judging by that one performance, he’s clearly got elite potential.
The Czech native has bricks for hands, and with 24 KO’s/TKO’s on his ledger, he might be the heaviest hitter in the UFC’s 205 lbs division.
Prochazka is next booked to fight former UFC title challenger Dominick Reyes in the main event of a Fight Night card on May 1st.
If he can win there, then he could leapfrog the division to be next in line for a title shot in 2022.
