{"id":328976,"date":"2025-12-06T20:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328976\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T20:44:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:44:19","slug":"bogdan-guskov-welcomes-pressure-in-life-changing-ufc-323-fight-with-jan-blachowicz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/328976\/","title":{"rendered":"Bogdan Guskov welcomes pressure in life-changing UFC 323 fight with Jan Blachowicz"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Rising knockout artist Bogdan Guskov embraces the pressure of facing a former light heavyweight champion at UFC 323 and hopes to make the most of the opportunity that a victory over Jan Blachowicz could mean for the future of his career.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Guskov stopped four opponents in a row going into Saturday\u2019s event in Las Vegas, knocking out Nikita Krylov, Billy Elekana, Ryan Spann and Zac Pauga, and celebrates being matched up against a man who has beaten stars like Israel Adesanya, Corey Anderson and Luke Rockhold in his prime.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThe opponent is very tough guy, former champion,\u201d Guskov told MMA Fighting. \u201cBig step in my career. I think about future because this is the moment I can change my career, change my life. This is another contract, another experience for me because this guy is from top of the division. He fought very big guys, big names. For me, I\u2019m feeling a little bit pressure but this is like normal pressure. I like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Guskov feels that facing one of the top of the division means \u201cI too am best guy,\u201d but knows he can\u2019t underestimate Blachowicz. The Polish star scored his last win over Aleksandar Rakic in 2022 and since fought to a draw with Magomed Ankalaev before losing decisions to Alex Pereira and Carlos Ulberg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI think cage will show everything, you know?\u201d Guskov said when asked for his prediction for UFC 323. \u201cThis guy is very tough guy, about power. He\u2019s old, but, like man power, you know? And I need to show my smart power. Let\u2019s see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">A win Saturday would put Guskov in the top-10 of the light heavyweight division but he chooses to \u201cconcentrate\u201d on getting the job done instead of playing matchmaking. However, given champion Alex Pereira\u2019s constant flirting with the idea of moving up to heavyweight, the 205-pound title picture could be wide open in 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cI think after this fight, maybe more one step and after maybe title shot. I believe this. I hope. It\u2019s good for me,\u201d Guskov said. \u201cIf Alex goes to the heavyweight, we have another good names. Carlos Ulberg, Jiri Prochazka, [Jamahal] Hill said he will come [back] the next year. I don\u2019t want to fight with Hill, but if title ambition, I think I need to go. He\u2019s good guy. Every time we meet in the [UFC Performance Institute] we talk, he\u2019s a very very good guy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rising knockout artist Bogdan Guskov embraces the pressure of facing a former light heavyweight champion at UFC 323&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-328976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}