Blachowicz And Ankalaev Lose Big At UFC 282

UFC 282 went down last Sat. night (Dec. 10, 2022) inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving plenty of fighters feeling the post-fight blues. That includes Darren Till, who was submitted by Dricus du Plessis in the third round of their middleweight affair (highlights). And Bryce Mitchell, who was rag-dolled by Ilia Topuria before getting submitted in the second stanza.

But which fighters are suffering from the worst post-fight hangover, now a few days removed from a pay-per-view (PPV) card that featured 10 incredible stoppages?

Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz.

The light heavyweight duo got an unexpected opportunity to fight for the vacant strap when Jiri Prochazka opted to vacate his title after suffering a nasty shoulder injury, forcing him out of his scheduled championship rematch against Glover Teixeira.

While it wasn’t the most exciting title fight we’ve ever seen, Blachowicz and Ankalaev did battle for 25 minutes, leading to a rather confusing split draw thanks to some Peanut Gallery judging. Ankalaev should have been crowned the clear winner, a sentiment that even Blachowicz expressed after the fight.

Take note, Paddy.

Instead, Ankalaev went home empty handed with no win bonus, no post-fight bonus, and no belt. And he, along with Blachowicz, also drew the ire of UFC President Dana White, who was not pleased with his performance one bit.

“What are you going to do, I think the main event was terrible,” White told reporters after the fight, admitting that he lost interest halfway through the bout, which is why he couldn’t crown a clear winner himself.

“I don’t even know, I started to zone out after three rounds. I heard Ankalaev is upset, but what are you going to do, you know? You got beat up the first two rounds and then you took him down, and you know, what are you going to do?”

While White has repeated time and again that he doesn’t play matchmaker the night of an event, he broke protocol and added salt to Ankalaev’s wound by revealing that neither he nor Blachowicz would be getting the chance to fight for the title.

“You do Glover versus Jamahal Hill in Brazil for the vacant title — done,” he revealed.

White was so disappointed with the fight that instead of giving them a chance to run it back — even after they agreed to a five-round title fight on short notice — he completely took them out of the championship picture.

He also went on to criticize Jared Gordon for not giving his all in the third round against Paddy Pimblett, but yet there was not a peep about “The Baddy” for putting on a subpar performance — and then acting like he was the clear-cut winner in a fight he clearly lost.

But that’s another story for another day.

Ankalaev and Blachowicz will likely meet again somewhere down the road, but they won’t be getting the Moreno vs Figueiredo treatment because neither of them had the belt.

On that note, it’s a shame judges can’t be punished by losing out on a great career advancement opportunity for their shortcomings, because while a lot of the onus does fall on the two headliners, the cageside judges were a big culprit in the outcome.

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For more results and fallout from UFC 282 click here.