UFC 323 star blamed Joe Rogan for interview ‘mistake’ that led to fury over a rare title fight result

Joe Rogan’s words left one former UFC champion less than pleased.

Two current titleholders and a number of ex-divisional kings will be in action at UFC 323 on December 6, as the promotion closes out its pay-per-view era with a stacked lineup at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.

Before Merab Dvalishvili defends his bantamweight title against Petr Yan in the main event and flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja meets the challenge of Joshua Van in the co-headliner, the likes of Brandon Moreno, Henry Cejudo, and Jan Blachowicz will also compete in ‘Sin City’.

Victories will net them post-fight interviews with Rogan inside the Octagon, and one of the former champs on show will be hoping for a better interaction than the one he had three years ago…

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Jan Blachowicz was unhappy that Joe Rogan encouraged robbery talk after Magomed Ankalaev draw

Blachowicz will face the charging Bogdan Guskov on the UFC 323 undercard. A win would see the Polish powerhouse interviewed in the cage by Rogan for the first time since UFC 282.

That December 2022 PPV was headlined by a clash between Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev for the vacant light heavyweight title after Jiri Prochazka was forced to relinquish it due to a shoulder injury.

After five rounds, the title fight ended in a rare split draw courtesy of one 47-47 scorecard. Many were shocked not to see Ankalaev’s hand raised, and that included Rogan. The color commentator even told Blachowicz to his face that he believed the ex-champ lost.

Blachowicz was left frustrated with Rogan for making him believe his opponent had been robbed of victory after rewatching the fight and concluding that a draw was the fair result.

“Joe Rogan, when he stepped into the Octagon, he said for him I lost the fight,” Blachowicz recalled while speaking to MMA Fighting. “That was what I was thinking.

“He did a mistake that he say something like this to me after the fight. Because everybody who thinks that I lost the fight, watch only the last round.

“I watched the fight a couple of times, a draw for me is fair,” he continued. “Joe Rogan, he shouldn’t say something like this to me after the fight. I was stuck in the last round and then Joe Rogan says, ‘That was a good fight, but for me you lost the fight.’

“After the fight, when I go to the locker room and I start talking with a lot of people backstage from different teams, they said, ‘Don’t say that you lost the fight, you didn’t lose this fight, a round is OK but maybe you won the fight. So don’t say it.’”

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Jan Blachowicz is searching for his first win in over three years at UFC 323

When recalling Blachowicz’s last triumph in the Octagon, fans have to go back all the way to 2022, and even that victory came as a result of an opponent’s injury.

After Glover Teixeira submitted Blachowicz in 2021 to end his light heavyweight title reign, the Polish star returned to winning ways when Aleksandar Rakic suffered a torn ACL in their main event at the UFC Apex the following year.

Blachowicz has failed to have his hand raised since, with consecutive losses to Alex Pereira and Carlos Ulberg following up the controversial draw with Ankalaev.

The 42-year-old is not giving up hope of a second championship reign, especially with ‘Poatan’ being back on the throne. To this day, Blachowicz maintains that he beat Pereira in the Brazilian’s light heavyweight debut, and he has his eyes on avenging that result before all is said and done.