Jan Blachowicz details shoulder injury, lays out timeframe for return

Jan Blachowicz says his shoulder injury was something that has hindered him for years now.

On Thursday it was revealed that Blachowicz was forced out of his UFC 297 rematch against Aleksandar Rakic due to him needing shoulder surgery. Speaking exclusively to BJPENN.com on Friday afternoon, Blachowicz revealed the injury is something he has been dealing with for years but finally gave out, which forced him to need the surgery.

“This is a long story, I feel it for like three years, something like this,” Blachowicz said to BJPENN.com. “I feel pain in my shoulders, but I accept the pain. Last three months, two months, I started losing my power, my strength. 40 percent goes, I tried and do something with physiotherapy, and doctors, and they tried to fix it, but every training was worse.

“When I did wrestling, I’d hold someone and they’d just grab my hand and open it like this, too easy. We did an MRI on both shoulders because I feel pain in both of them, and I need to clean it, if I were to clean it, I can come back to training. They said after this after good recovery, my power will be back. I feel pain, but the pain is okay. The power, I feel like a two-year-old girl, so it’s not possible to prepare for a fight,” Blachowicz continued.

Once Jan Blachowicz was in the gym and realized his power was going, he knew he had to pull out of the fight with Rakic, which was disappointing news for him, as this was a fight he was looking forward to.

“I wanted to do this fight, but I cannot be ready 100 percent (for it). I’m just sad, but as I said, I don’t want to waste my energy thinking about what happened, I have to save this energy for surgery and recovery,” Blachowicz said.

With Jan Blachowicz out of his UFC 297 fight against Aleksandar Rakic, he revealed he is set for one more consultation next week and is hopeful he can get the surgery in two weeks.

According to Blachowicz, the recovery from the surgery is around two months, which will allow him to keep fighting, despite turning 41 in February.

“After surgery, first of all, they said one month,” Blachowicz said. “But, when I spoke yesterday, they said one month if I was 20, I’m 40 years old, so it will be two or two-and-a-half months… I have to do a couple more fights, I want to do a couple more fights, this isn’t the end, I didn’t think of returning.”

With Blachowicz only needing a couple of months for rehab, the hope for the Pole is to return in the summer against however the UFC gives him.

“Something like that,” Blachowicz said when asked if the summertime was the timeframe. “I was hoping for the first part of the new year, but we will see. First of all, I need to do this surgery and rehab, then we can start thinking about (my return). I need to go to the gym and do a sparring session, I want to feel my power again and I can find a new fight,” Blachowicz concluded.