The UFC light heavyweight title remained vacant after judges awarded the main event in UFC 282 a controversial draw between third-ranked Jan Blachowicz and No. 4 Magomed Ankalaev.
Blachowicz (29-9-1) said he didn’t think he won the fight and that Ankalaev (18-1-1) deserved the belt. One judge gave Blachowicz the fight a 48-47, another Anklalaev at 48-46 and the third a 47-47 score.
The top two fights of the night went to the judges, and both are sure to draw scrutiny.
Blachowicz-Ankalaev might have been the main event, but much of the crowd came to see England’s Paddy Pimblett in the co-main fight. American Jared Gordon, 34, had other ideas, dictating the tempo in the lightweight match even as the crowd repeatedly yelled, "Let’s go, Paddy!"
But even much of the crowd had trouble believing the decision, with many booing Pimblett (20-3) winning 29-28 on all three judges’ cards.
"It wasn’t that close," Pimblett insisted. "I coasted in the third round because I knew I already won the first two."
The brash 27-year-old has becoming a polarizing figure in the UFC, but has backed up his words with his performances in the cage to date, even getting a major benefit of the doubt from the judges over Gordon (19-6). This was the first time Pimblett has fought into the third round since entering the UFC in September 2021.
As for the main event, Blachowicz and Ankalaev weren’t expected to be the headliners, but light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka dropped out because of a shoulder injury. Second-ranked Glover Teixeira declined to fight Blachowicz, vacating the title and elevating this fight to a championship bout.
The fight was even through the first two rounds, but Blachowicz began to get the upper hand in the third with his kicks. Ankalaev took the Polish fighter to the floor with about five seconds left, and then came out swinging in the fourth.
Ankalaev, who is from Russia, took Blachowicz back to the floor with a little more than three minutes left and kept him there the remainder of the fourth, but wasn’t able to get a submission.
Again in the fifth, Ankalaev came out the aggressor by throwing punches and quickly getting Blachowicz to the floor, where it became a wrestling match the rest of the way.
Fighting for the championship was nothing new for Blachowicz, who claimed the belt in September 2020 with a technical knocking of Dominick Reyes. However, Blachowicz loss the title when Teixeira beat him by submission in the second round in October 2021.
This was Ankalaev’s first title shot, and he was nearly undefeated entering this match. He was ahead on the scorecards in a 2018 bout against Paul Craig, but was submitted with a second left.
Raul Rosas Jr., 18, became the youngest UFC fighter to win a match when he caused fellow American Jay Perrin, 29, to submit by rear naked choke at 2:44 of the first round of the bantamweight bout. Rosas asked in the post-fight interview if UFC president Dana White could provide him a $50,000 bonus so he could buy his mom a minivan to shuttle him to the UFC Performance Institute.
