Both competitors, Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev, thought that Ankalaev should have won the light heavyweight championship after the judges gave the main event of UFC 282 a disputed draw.
During the post-match interview in the octagon, No. 3 Blachowicz (29-9-1) approached No. 4 Ankalaev (18-1-1) and told him he earned the championship.
Ankalaev expressed through a Russian interpreter that he doubted he would “fight for this organization again.”
Ankalaev said, “I won this fight.” “I am the champion. Where can I find my belt?
The fight was judged 48-47 for Blachowicz by judge Mike Bell, 48-46 for Ankalaev by judge Derek Cleary, and 47-47 for Sal D’Amato.
The choice seemed to embarrass Blachowicz.
“Perhaps we can have a rematch,” remarked Blachowicz humbly. I do not select the judges.
Jan Blachowicz is kicked by Magomed Ankalaev during their UFC 282 match.
The co-main event was again decided by the scorecards, and there was little consensus among the audience over the outcome.
Even though Blachowicz-Ankalaev was the main event, many spectators came to watch Paddy Pimblett of England in the co-main event. 34-year-old American Jared Gordon had other plans, dictating the pace of the lightweight bout despite the crowd’s frequent chants of “Let’s go, Paddy!”
Pimblett (20-3) won on all three judges’ cards with a score of 29-28, despite the fact that a large portion of the crowd found it difficult to believe. Gordon laughed and shook his head as the scores were announced.
Pimblett asserted, “It wasn’t close at all.” “In the third round, I coasted because I knew I had already won the first two.”
The 27-year-old has become a divisive figure in the UFC, but he has backed up his statements with his performances in the cage to date, even receiving a significant benefit of the doubt against Gordon (19-6). This was Pimblett’s first appearance in the third round since joining the UFC in September 2021.
During their UFC 282 encounter, Magomed Ankalaev (right) and Jan Blachowicz exchange strikes.
Blachowicz and Ankalaev were not supposed to headline the main event, but light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka withdrew due to a shoulder injury. Glover Teixeira, who was rated second, declined to face Blachowicz, vacating the title and upgrading this match to championship status.
Through the first two rounds, the battle was well matched, but Blachowicz began to gain the upper hand in the third round when his kicks damaged Ankalaev. Then, with approximately five seconds remaining, Ankalaev knocked the Polish fighter to the ground and emerged swinging in the fourth round.
Ankalaev brought Blachowicz back to the mat with around three minutes remaining and held him there for the remainder of the fourth round, but was unable to secure a submission.
Again in the fifth round, Ankalaev emerged as the aggressor by delivering punches and quickly pinning Blachowicz to the mat, where the rest of the match was contested by wrestling.
Ankalaev stated, “I did everything in my power to earn this victory.”
Fighting for the championship was nothing new for Blachowicz, who won the title with a technical knockout of Dominick Reyes in September 2020. However, Blachowicz lost the championship in October 2021 when Teixeira submitted him in the second round.
This was Ankalaev’s first shot at the championship, and he entered the match nearly unbeaten. In a 2018 fight against Paul Craig, he led on the scorecards but was submitted with one second remaining.
Raul Rosas Jr., age 18, became the youngest UFC fighter to win a match when he submitted fellow American Jay Perrin, age 29, with a rear naked choke at 2:44 of the opening round of their bantamweight contest. In the post-fight interview, Rosas asked UFC president Dana White for a bonus of $50,000 so he could buy his mother a minivan to transport him to the UFC Performance Institute.
»UFC light heavyweight crown remains vacant following a contentious tie«