A pivotal light heavyweight bout between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev has been booked for UFC 282.
According to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, Blachowicz and Ankalaev are set to fight in a likely title eliminator bout between Blachowicz and Ankalaev will go down on December 10 in Las Vegas. The event does not have the main event as of right now but it is rumored that Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira will have their rematch.
Jan Blachowicz (29-9) returned to the win column last time out with a TKO win over Aleksandar Rakic, in a fight Rakic suffered a leg injury. Prior to that, he lost his light heavyweight title by submission to Glover Teixeira. The Pole became the champ back in September 2020 and knocked out Dominick Reyes. He defended his belt with a decision victory over Israel Adesanya.
In his UFC tenure, the second-ranked light heavyweight in Blachowicz holds notable wins over Corey Anderson, Jimi Manuwa, Jacare Souza, Luke Rockhold, and Jared Cannonier among others.
Magomed Ankalaev (18-1) is riding a nine-fight win streak and coming off a TKO win over Anthony Smith at UFC 277 in a bout Smith broke his ankle in. Before that, he earned a decision victory over Thiago Santos in his first UFC main event.
Ankalaev is currently ranked third at light heavyweight and holds notable wins over Volkan Oezdemir, Nikita Krylov, and Ion Cutelaba. The Russian is also the former WFCA light heavyweight champion with his lone loss coming in his UFC debut with just one second left as he was submitted by Paul Craig.
With the addition of Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev, UFC 282 is as follows:
- Robbie Lawler vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Billy Quarantillo
- Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Dalcha Lungiambula
- Chris Daukaus vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Chris Curtis
- Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
- T.J. Brown vs. Erik Silva
- Daniel da Silva vs. Vinicius Salvador
- Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
- Ronnie Lawrence vs. Cameron Saaiman
- Alexander Gustafsson vs. Ovince Saint Preux
Who do you think will win, Jan Blachowicz or Magomed Ankalaev?