“UFC influenced by politics” – Twitter is rife with the MMA community LAMBASTING the judges’ for their horrid scoring in declaring Jan Blachowicz vs Magomed Ankalaev a draw
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Magomed Ankalaev (R) and Jan Blachowicz (L) hear Bruce Buffer announce their fight as a draw [Image Source - MMA Fighting]
UFC 282’s main event just ended, and at the night’s close, surprisingly, neither Jan Blachowicz nor Magomed Ankalaev went home with the belt.
The last PPV of the year already had a compelling backstory to it – in the beginning, Jiri Prochazka was set to attempt a defence of his light heavyweight title against veteran Glover Teixeira. However, due to unmitigable circumstances (Jiri Prochazka pulled out and vacated the belt due to a severely injured shoulder), the co-main event of the fight was promoted, meaning the vacant title was to be contested between Blachowicz and Ankalaev.
For five rounds, the two battled in gladiatorial spirit – the breakthrough came in the second and third rounds, where Blachowicz’s leg kicks did immense damage to a hobbling Ankalaev. Ever so stoic, the Russian showed he could survive under pressure as he went on to dominate the former champion on the canvas, in what the MMA community perceived as a clear decision victory.
That, however, was not to be the case as Bruce Buffer read out the judges’ decisions as a majority draw – meaning no one took the title home. Understandably, Magomed Ankalaev expressed his frustration in his post-fight interview, saying that he ‘would not want to fight for the UFC again’ and surprisingly Blachowicz interrupted his opponent’s octagon interview to accept his defeat.
The MMA Community expresses its condemnation at the Jan Blachowicz-Magomed Ankalaev fight being deemed a draw
UFC fans, understandably, were livid at this conflagration of the trust that is given to the judges’ whenever the fight makes it through the stipulated timeframe. Additionally, ex-champion Jiri Prochazka had some fierce opinions of his to express as well. Find the best tweets attached below.
Clearly then, the MMA community seems to have tasted a strong dosage of judges’ unpopular scoring – however, two wildly unpopular decisions might just be too much to handle. While Paddy Pimblett stays undefeated in the promotion, it will be interesting to see how Magomed Ankalaev takes this decision.
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Udayan Mukherjee
(382 Articles Published)