The UFC always likes to end the year with a bang, and had planned to main event UFC 282, the final big show of 2022, with a rematch of Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira. The light-heavyweight title bout at UFC 275 in June was the wildest championship fight of the year – wildest in many years, perhaps – and relocating the second serving from Singapore to Las Vegas would only heighten the tension.
However, on November 23, the fight was cancelled. Champion Prochazka suffered a shoulder injury that will keep him out of action for over a year, so he dropped out of the fight and vacated the belt. Challenger and former champion Texieira had spent five months preparing for his Czech rival and, at 42, is too old to switch on the fly to a short notice opponent so he declined to fight any sooner than UFC 283 on January 21, 2023.
This forced UFC President Dana White to make a new main event for the vacant championship, pitting #3 and #4, between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev. It was on such short notice that Blachowicz didn't know when he took off from his native Poland and was informed he was fighting for the belt upon arrival in Las Vegas.
Blachowicz dominated KSW, the biggest MMA league in Europe, but found UFC hard going, losing four of his first six. But then he turned things around – something he owes to his good luck charm: a noose he found hanging from a tree the woods of Warsaw – and from October 21, 2017 until this weekend, won 10 and only lost two, including one to Teixeira for the title in 2021. But in his victories, he knocked out Luke Rockhold, Corey Anderson and Dominick Reyes, won the light heavyweight championship and became the first man to defeat Israel Adesanya in MMA.
Magomed Ankalaev (R) attempts to turn a body kick into a takedown on Jan Blachowicz. /Zuffa
As for his opponent, Ankalaev. He comes from Dagestan, Russia, has a chinstrap beard and a surname the ends in -v. The only thing that separates him from the other Russians currently terrorizing the world of MMA is that Ankalaev's focus is on precision striking rather than Khabib-esque wrestling. Coming into UFC 282, he's 18-1 with his one loss coming in the very final second of his UFC debut.
With both men sharing a litany of KOs, the tense opening frame made sense. Ankalaev fought from the outside, leaning in with stiff jabs and getting out just as fast because everything Blachowicz landed looked like it stung.
This got worse in the second round as the Polish fighter focused on leg kicks. In the second round he hit 10 of the 12 he attempted and this number increases when factoring the kicks he checked. Regardless of if it was attack or defense, every time Blachowicz's leg hit Ankalaev's, it was doing damage. Once, the Russian looked like he was on the verge of collapsing under his own weight and, at least twice, he stumbled his way into a bad takedown attempt, just to prevent his shins and calves getting blasted.
These clumsy attempts at level changes became Ankalaev's main form of offence in the third round and it eventually paid off. For over three minutes, he forced Blachowicz to move backwards and after four takedown attempts, finally got his opponent down. However, with over 80 seconds of control time, he didn't land a single strike and instead fumbled for a choke.
Heading into the championship rounds, Ankalaev looked to have figured out how to neutralize Blachowicz and across the final ten minutes, he had nine minutes 22 seconds of control time. In doing so, Blachowicz's offence entirely disappeared as he landed only one jab out of barely five attempted strikes.
Magomed Ankalaev attempts strikes from the back of Jan Blachowicz. /Zuffa
But neutralising is not enough. In the fourth round, Ankalaev did nothing besides for prevent Blachowicz from getting back to his feet. In the fifth, he's credited with 17 strikes to a grounded opponent, but they were pitter-patter, especially when compared to the lower-body blitzing Ankalaev absorbed in the first 15 minutes.
When the final bell rang, it was clear nobody knew who what direction the judges would go in. Mike Bell gave it 47-48 for Ankalaev, Derek Cleary 48-46 for Blachowicz - Sal D'Amato ruled it 47-47. The fight was a split draw. Nobody won the championship.
Post-fight, Jan Blachowicz, well known for being level headed, seemed fairly depressed by the result and offered to allow the belt to be given to Ankalaev. "I don't know if I lost," he said, "but I know I didn't win." As for Magomed Ankalaev, he was furious and, through his translator, limped around, saying he wouldn't fight for the UFC ever again.
The UFC had lit the fuse on two of the heaviest hitters in the 205lb division and instead of exploding into excitement, it had fizzled out into a dud of downbeat confusion and second-hand embarrassment.
It was enough to get Dana White to move on immediately and announce the title would be up for grabs again at UFC 283 with Glover Teixeira facing the next healthy man in the division, Jamahal Hill.
It's nonsensical, angry matchmaking, but after what had just happened, who could blame him?
[Header: UFC referee Marc Goddard raises the hands of both Jan Blachowicz (L) and Magomed Ankalaev (R) following their split draw for the vacant light-heavyweight championship in the main event of UFC 282 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. on December 10, 2022. /Zuffa]