UPDATED UFC on ESPN 33 Loses Blachowicz-Rakic Headliner; Gains Neil Magny vs. Max Griffin

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Editor's note: The article has been updated at 1 p.m. ET on Jan. 28 to add a statement from Blachowicz.

The next Ultimate Fighting Championship card on ESPN has lost its headliner.

Per MMA Kultura on Thursday, and later from Ariel Helwani, Jan Blachowicz (28-9) has been forced out of his light heavyweight main event at UFC on ESPN 33 against Aleksandar Rakic (14-2) due to a then-undisclosed injury. According to the reports, Blachowicz will not be replaced as the matchup will be preserved for a later date, and the UFC is searching for an entirely new main event to sit atop the show at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 26.

Early Friday morning, Blachowicz posted on Twitter to confirm his withdrawal from the card, while also detailing that his injury is to his neck.

Unfortunately I will not fight March 26th at #UFCColumbus. I have an injury in my spine around the neck area. That makes it impossible to train with heavy weights. I need to fix that now.

I hope we will meet with @rakic_ufc in the octagon in the first half of this year.

— Jan Blachowicz (@JanBlachowicz) January 28, 2022

"Unfortunately I will not fight March 26th at UFC Columbus," Blachowicz wrote. "I have an injury in my spine around the neck area. That makes it impossible to train with heavy weights [sic]. I need to fix that now. I hope we will meet with [Rakic] in the Octagon in the first half of this year."

Blachowicz was looking to get back in the win column after surrendering his belt to Glover Teixeira in late 2021. The former champ had a five-fight win streak snapped at the conclusion of UFC 267, where he fell victim to a rear-naked choke from the Brazilian. Blachowicz first claimed the vacant strap by punching out Dominick Reyes at UFC 253 in 2020, and he successfully defended it against Israel Adesanya. In that bout, he became the first man to beat Adesanya in MMA.

Austria’s Rakic is a questionable split decision loss to Volkan Oezdemir away from a 14-fight win streak. “Rocket” burst on to the scene with four straight wins inside the Octagon over increasingly impressive competition, with a knockout of Devin Clark and a brutal head kick stoppage over Jimi Manuwa placing him in the Oezdemir matchup. Rakic rebounded from that setback with a pair of clear-cut decision victories over Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos.

While the headlining tilt is no longer on the table, a rumored welterweight pairing between Neil Magny (25-8) and Max Griffin (18-8) has been made official for the March 26 fight card. The bout was initially reported by MagicM MMA on Twitter on Jan. 20, and it has been confirmed by multiple outlets as well as Griffin himself on Instagram.

Longtime UFC vet Magny had his sights set on unbeaten upstart Khamzat Chimaev, but he is instead receiving the matchup with Griffin. A perennial contender in his division, “The Haitian Sensation” last appeared in May 2021, where he took home a decision victory over Geoff Neal. That win righted the ship after a five-round setback defeat at the hands of Michael Chiesa, in which that loss halted three triumphs in a row for Magny. Magny celebrates wins over multiple former champs including Robbie Lawler, Carlos Condit and Johny Hendricks over the years.

Griffin is currently riding his longest win streak dating back to his run on the Tachi Palace Fights that led him to an unsuccessful title fight against Chidi Njokuani. In his current run, “Pain” has stopped Ramiz Brahimaj by practically detaching Brahimaj’s ear with elbows, he went on to put Kenan Song away in 2:20 and then topped Condit on the scorecards. A win for the California native would lift his UFC record above .500.

UFC on ESPN 33 will go down inside the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on March 26. While the marquee matchup has fallen through, other key tilts on the card include a flyweight banger between Kai Kara France and Askar Askarov, a sure-fire welterweight thriller pitting hometown fighter Matt Brown against Bryan Barberena, and a women’s strawweight affair between Amanda Ribas and Michelle Waterson.