Jan Blachowicz will have the chance to reclaim the light heavyweight championship when he faces Magomed Ankalaev in the main event of UFC 282 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on the morning of Sunday 11 December 2022.
The headline clash of this event was supposed to be a rematch between division champion Jiri Prochazka and former belt-holder Glover Teixeira, but the Czech pulled out due to a shoulder injury which will require shoulder surgery and at least six months of rehabilitation.
Prochazka then honourably vacated the title, and Teixeira refused a replacement match against Ankalaev. In response, the UFC promoted the original co-main, Blachowicz v Ankalaev, to the main event and put the vacant title on the line.
Blachowicz (29-9) was last in action in May, claiming a win over Aleksandar Rakic after the latter retired due to a knee injury in the third round of their fight, while Ankalaev (18-1) has racked up nine straight wins, most recently finishing Anthony Smith in the second round of a fight at UFC 277 in July.
“Main event. Amazing,” was how Blachowicz responded to being handed a shot to win the championship back. “That was crazy because I didn’t know nothing. I was in the plane ten hours and I was the last person to know that my fight will be for the title.
“So I wish Jiri a very fast recovery, but it is what it is. We’ve got the title shot so... perfect, I’m happy! Ready for it.”
The rest of the main card features Paddy Pimblett against Jared Gordon in the lightweight division; a welterweight battle sees Robbie Lawler take on Santiago Ponzinibbio; and Bryce Mitchell will face Ilia Topuria in a featherweight opener.
In addition, South Africa’s Dricus Du Plessis has been bumped up to the main card and will face his toughest opponent at the UFC thus far, former welterweight championship contender Darren Till.
Du Plessis has beaten Markus Perez, Trevin Giles and Brad Tavares since his UFC debut in October 2020, and will hope that a victory over a top-10 ranked middleweight propels him to stardom in the world’s biggest MMA series.
Till has lost four of his last five matches, but is nonetheless confident that he can get the better of ‘Stillknocks’: “I’ll assess him and I'll assess me. I think he's strong, he looks strong. He does a lot of strength and conditioning, so that's one point,” said the Englishman.
“He's very motivated, this is the biggest fight of his life, so he's obviously training really hard, that's another point. He seems like he knows what he wants and who he is, so that's another point.
“But he's quite reckless, he bounces in and out a lot... From my point of view, I think I'm quicker on the feet and lighter than him, I think I can really punish him in there.”
UFC 282 – Main card
- Main event: Vacant light heavyweight championship: Jan Blachowicz v Magomed Ankalaev
- Lightweight: Paddy Pimblett v Jared Gordon
- Welterweight: Robbie Lawler v Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Middleweight: Darren Till v Dricus Du Plessis
- Featherweight: Bryce Mitchell v Ilia Topuria