What led to Dana White announcing the Glover Teixeira – Jamahal Hill title fight moments after UFC 282’s light heavyweight title bout?

What led to Dana White announcing the Glover Teixeira – Jamahal Hill title fight moments after UFC 282’s light heavyweight title bout?

Glover Teixeira (L) and Jamahal Hill (R) will fight for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 283 [Image Source - CBS Sports (L) and Yahoo Sports (R)]

UFC 282 was momentous for a wide array of reasons, prime among which is the wide unpopularity that the judges’ decisions in the co-main and main events enjoyed. The MMA community never really enjoys unanimity over any discussion – this PPV, however, served to show otherwise.

In a bout that was firmly going Jan Blachowicz’s way up until the end of the 3rd round, Magomed Ankalaev showed a great deal of stoic tenacity to claw back on the scorecards (of the fans!) and wrest his way to a supposed decision victory. Only the expected outcome was not to materialize and the fighter eventually had to hear the disconcerting announcement of the fight being a draw. As the reason, the belt stayed vacant, after Jiri Prochazka vacated last month due to a shoulder injury, and Glover Teixeira elected not to fight Ankalaev.

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Almost immediately, in the post fight presser, Dana White announced Glover Teixeira vs Jamahal Hill for the vacant light heavyweight title, in around a months’ time. Speaking about it, he said, “I think the main event was terrible. You know, what are you going to do?”

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Responding to journalist John Morgan’s question about the status of the vacant belt, White said, “You do Glover Teixeira vs Jamahal Hill in Brazil. Done… We got out of the octagon, we’re all bummed out, in my greenroom in the back. Then, Hunter and Mick started talking… ‘what about doing this in Brazil, we’ll turn it right around and do this thing in Brazil.’ Everybody started to cheer up a little bit and it got a lot more fun back in the greenroom.”

Related- “Main event was terrible,” Dana White is PISSED OFF by how the main event of UFC 282 unfolded

UFC 283 could potentially see two Brazilians, including Glover Teixeira being crowned champion in front of their adoring home crowd

The UFC returns to Brazil after 3 years [Image Source - Encyclopedia Britannica]
The UFC returns to Brazil after three years [Image Source – Encyclopedia Britannica]

UFC 283 will be held in the Jeunesse Arena in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and the main event was supposed to be shared by Deiveson Figueiredo and his nemesis, Brandon Moreno. Now that Dana White has announced this new addition, UFC Brazil looks a whole lot more stacked.

However, what is most interesting is that, after a long time, Brazil will get to cheer two of its natives on, in a bid to win the title. While Figueiredo will fight against Moreno to stack up his first title defence after having lost the belt last year, Teixeira will be aiming to recapture the belt that was taken off of him six months ago, by Jiri Prochazka.

Also Read-“UFC influenced by politics” – Twitter is rife with the MMA community LAMBASTING the judges’ for their horrid scoring in declaring Jan Blachowicz vs…

And, what makes it doubly special is the fact that the last Brazilian to have won the belt in front of their dedicated home crowd was Jose Aldo, all those years back against Chad Mendes. A new decade presents newer opportunities – and, MMA fans will wait to see if these two fighters can possibly capture the imaginations of millions.

Also Read- Jan Blachowicz and Joe Rogan request UFC to give the light heavyweight belt to Magomed Ankalaev after UFC 282 main event fiasco