Jan Blachowicz and Joe Rogan request UFC to give the light heavyweight belt to Magomed Ankalaev after UFC 282 main event fiasco
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Magomed Ankalaev vs Jan Blachowicz - Image Courtesy (MMA Junkie)
After Jiri Prochazka suffered a career-threatening shoulder injury, he vacated his light heavyweight title, and that gave Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev the chance to fight for the vacant light heavyweight belt.
These two were preparing for a three-rounded affair, but both of them stepped up to the challenge and fought tooth and nail for 5 straight rounds. Jan Blachowicz started the fight strong and started working behind devastating leg kicks. They paid dividends, and Magomed’s legs almost gave up by round number 3.
Magomed rallied late and used his offensive wrestling to shift the momentum on his side. While many thought Ankalaev did enough to get the win, the scorecards told a different story. The fight was ruled as a split-decision draw, and that pissed off Ankalaev in a major way.
While talking to Joe Rogan during the post-fight interview, he said, “I don’t know what to say, I won that fight, why didn’t I get my belt? I don’t know what to say.” He was interrupted by his opponent, as Jan said, “Give the belt to Ankalaev.” This gesture from Jan impressed everyone present in the arena, and this raised some major questions about the competency of the judges.
Magomed Ankalaev is not sure about his future in the UFC
Ankalaev was running high on a 9 fight-win streak. It was his chance to fulfil his dream of becoming a UFC champion, and he feels like the judges robbed him of his dream. Blachowicz hurt his legs in a major way but Ankalaev pushed through and dominated his opponent for the last 2 rounds.
Ankalaev was asked about his future, and he stated he doesn’t want to fight for the UFC if the can’t deal with this judging situation. He said, “I always do whatever I have to do to adjust. If I’m losing a standup I’ll go down to grappling… but I don’t know if I’m gonna fight for this organization again, because honestly, I don’t know what just happened.”
Also read – After an injury laden career and a loss at UFC 282, will Darren Till retire from MMA?
Rogan told Ankalaev that the UFC doesn’t get to choose the judges, and he calmed down a little, but nothing can be said for his future as of now. But in an interesting turn of events, president Dana White announced that Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill will now fight for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 283.
This remains an unfortunate outcome for both Ankalaev and Blachowicz, but it’ll be interesting to see how the light heavyweight division unfolds over the course of the next 6 months or so. Prochazka is expected to recover from his injury around that time, and he’s promised to get an immediate title shot against whoever is holding the belt at that moment.
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Suryansh Thakur
(1600 Articles Published)