UFC London: Carlos Ulberg beats Jan Blachowicz to further claims for light heavyweight title shot

Carlos Ulberg beat Jan Blachowicz by unanimous decision at UFC London. Photo / Getty Images

Standing in the centre of the UFC octagon in London, his hand having just been raised for an eighth straight time, Kiwi light heavyweight Carlos Ulberg called his shot.

“The longest win streak in the light heavyweight division, the only thing left for me is a title shot. That’s all that matters.”

It wasn’t highlight-reel stuff in Ulberg’s win over Jan Blachowicz on Sunday morning, but it was a composed performance from an athlete who now firmly sits in the conversation for the UFC’s next challenger at 93kg.

There was plenty of the unknown for Ulberg coming into the bout. Blachowicz, a former champion, sat at No 3 in the division and had a split-decision loss (Alex Pereira) and a draw (current champion Magomed Ankalaev) against the two most recent athletes to hold the belt.

But the 42-year-old from Poland had also not fought in about 20 months due to shoulder surgery.

He came back looking every bit as sharp as he left, looking to walk Ulberg down and used his calf kicks smartly to try to limit the movement of his Kiwi counterpart.

Ulberg moved well, never staying still for long, and mixed his strikes well, primarily working off the back of jabs and feints.

It was a tense first round as both men seemed to acknowledge the power of their rival, but Blachowicz had gotten the better of Ulberg ever-so-slightly.

Ulberg began to push the pace a bit more early in the second round and both men landed some good shots as the fight opened up.

It was a better round for Ulberg and it felt like everything would come down to the final round to find a winner.

Again, Ulberg pushed the pace and took the fight to Blachowicz, showing great range management and knowledge of his positioning in the cage to evade the power coming back at him.

Perhaps surprisingly, it was a bout that played out solely on the feet – though both men did unsuccessfully attempt a takedown each.

“[The game plan was] just stick and move,” Ulberg said. “He’s got a good grappling game so all I wanted to do was make sure to keep on the feet and just bang and move.”

With the win – 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards in his favour – Ulberg should take Blachowicz’s spot in the division’s top three and sits in the box seat, should the UFC want a fresh face to fight for the belt.

As it stands, Ankalaev and Pereira are expected to have a rematch, after Ankalaev won the title at UFC 313 two weeks ago.

Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.