Safe to say that the final pay-per-view of the year came to the worst end possible. Magomed Ankalaev, rightfully was very upset as he believed he was robbed of the light heavyweight belt in his fight against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 282.
Jan Blachowicz vs Magomed Ankalaev was not the original main event of the year-end PPV event. The two contenders got the chance to fight for the light heavyweight title earlier and faced the worst possible outcome. None of the fighters in the main event fight left the octagon satisfied and the Russian light heavyweight in particular was dejected after the judges’ decision.
The five-round fight was not the most action-packed title fight that the fans would’ve wanted but Magomed Ankalaev surely was the favorite to win the fight. Joe Rogan and Jan Blachowicz also agreed that the Russian fighter deserved the belt. The Nevada commission judges, however, saw the fight differently and scored the contest a split draw. This meant that neither of the two would get the light-heavyweight belt wrapped around their waist at UFC 282.
Magomed in the post-fight octagon interview talking to Joe Rogan said via a translator, “I don’t know if I’m going to fight for this organization again because honestly, I don’t know what just happened.” The Russian light heavyweight was shocked and could barely put into words how disappointed he was. Ankalaev according to many who watched the fight should’ve won it and gone home with the light heavyweight belt.
#UFC282 Official Scorecard: Jan Blachowicz vs Magomed Ankalaev 👇
All Tonight’s Scorecards ➡️: https://t.co/ZOw63NkfWN pic.twitter.com/WdwNTUJa2o
— UFC News (@UFCNews) December 11, 2022This was not the only controversy of the fight night as the co-main event too ended in a fishy unanimous decision as Paddy Pimblett was awarded the victory over Jared Gordon. The main event was a bigger upset of course given that the light heavyweight title was at stake.
Could Magomed Ankalaev actually leave the promotion after UFC 282 disaster?
This is only the fifth time that a title fight has been decided as a split draw by the judges in UFC history. The previous four are BJ Penn vs Caol Uno, Frankie Edgard vs Gray Maynard, Stephen Thompson vs Tyron Woodley, and Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno. Ankalaev believes that he was robbed in the fight against Jan Blachowicz.
It is possible that Ankalaev might have been on the last fight of his UFC contract. The fighter was initially not supposed to fight for the title but to contest for a title shot spot. If Ankalaev was crowned champion, according to the Champion’s clause in a UFC contract, it would’ve meant that he should continue with the promotion.
The Russian fighter has been in the UFC for the past four years and has faced only one defeat and that was on his UFC debut. Since then he has gone on a 9 fight-winning streak. It turns out to be a shocker that Ankalaev has claimed to leave the organization after such a good run. To make matters worse, Dana White in the press conference said that the new vacant title fight would be between Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill.
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