UFC 282 Blachowicz vs Ankalaev - Las Vegas (12/10/2022)

If he’d actually been offered a fight against Ankalaev, he should have just taken it and called it a day. Look, sometimes you just have to swallow your pride, bite the bullet, and take whatever is being put on the table. Especially since he isn't getting any younger.

Glover could certainly step up to face Ankalaev, but if he honestly believes he needs more camp time to be ready, he’s walking straight into a trap where everyone will just call him naive for passing up the shot.
The real question is how long the recovery for Jiri takes; maybe in about six months, Glover gets a crack at whoever comes out on top of the Jan - Ankalaev fight.

Look, I like Glover, I really do, but he was a champion and can walk away feeling pretty damn good about everything he's accomplished. It isn't quite the same situation as Ferguson, who can always point to the fact that he never actually got his shot at a major belt despite being an elite fighter before his prime slipped away.

As for this title fight, I'm genuinely rooting for Jan to bring that belt back home.

There’s no way he isn't ready. You don't just sit there mid-camp for a title fight with two weeks left on the clock and not be prepared. I'm not buying it.
It’s probably more about the matchup. Ankalaev's style likely gives him a massive headache, and he's probably terrified of taking an embarrassing loss this late in his career. Look, I'll be straight with you—we all love Glover, the guy is a legend and has done incredible things, but after this nonsense of dodging a title shot right in the middle of training camp? Honestly, it might be time for him to just call it quits and retire gracefully. I don't see what he gains by picking up wins against easier opponents. He'll be a year older by next year, and even if he cleans those fights up, stepping in against Ankalaev later will look even worse. Maybe he's banking on Jan doing the dirty work for him. It could just be cold, hard math.

Besides, Glover isn't the first one to pull a move like this. Remember when Germaine de Randamie lost her belt because she refused to step into the cage with Cris Cyborg? She could handle Amanda Nunes twice, but against Cyborg? No thanks. When someone genuinely scares you, they scare you. These fighters are human beings too. This kind of thing happens way more often than people realize. Fighters dodge fights constantly. Glover just had the terrible luck of having the whole thing blow up in the public eye (just like it did for Germaine back in the day).

Darren Till vs Dricus du Plessis are both set to fight on the main card

This opponent of Paddy's is playing the usual cards—claims he was hitting every drug under the sun since he was 13, an alcoholic, spent his whole life cycling through prisons, lived on the streets, lost everything, and basically trashed everyone around him. But now there’s a new twist for the narrative: apparently, he was sexually abused by a counselor at some youth camp when he was only 8 years old.

Seriously? Just... give me a break.

Lawler is out

It’s kind of a bummer that this old grudge between Pimblet and Topuria is taking center stage. Topuria actually has a much better matchup lined up for this weekend, and honestly, fighting Bryce Mitchell is a way more legitimate test than anything involving Pimblet.
If you ask me, this is easily the most intriguing fight on the card—and besides the bantamweight title bout, it’s hands down the most important one on the slate (which isn't even a boring lineup, despite all those last-minute cancellations).

Topuria is going to be the champ, just like I said a long time ago...

If you ask me, Paddy lost that one 2-1 on the scorecards, but hey, whatever. Everyone seems convinced Gordon got absolutely robbed, though I saw it as an incredibly tight fight that Paddy ultimately edged out...

I can't quite remember the last time we saw a result like this.

Are you kidding me? Honestly, this one feels incredibly close to me. It might just come down to how Ankalaev looked in that final round. People are going to be talking about this event for a long time...

Seriously? I’d say this one is incredibly close. Maybe it was just that final round from Ankalaev that tipped the scales, but honestly, people are going to be talking about this event for a long time..

I feel a real connection to the fight itself. Jan is being foolish here; he keeps insisting this guy should have taken the win. Maybe he's right, but man, that fight was incredibly close.

Paddy’s defensive game is a complete disaster. Someone is going to end up putting him to sleep. I can't even fathom what kind of state he'd be in if Gaethje actually connects. He lost this fight before it even started.

Topuria throws heavy hands, but he doesn't stand a chance against anyone in the top 5 at FW.

That main event was weird, and the decision was even weirder. My first thought was just, "What the hell was that?" Then I sat down to actually count the rounds.
In my book, Jan clearly takes rounds 2 and 3, while Ankalaev grabs the 4th and 5th. Honestly, I wouldn't even argue against giving Ankalaev a 10-8 in the fifth. So, if you toss out that first round, it’s a 3-2 split for Ankalaev.
Everything hinges on that opening frame because it was such a toss-up. If you give the first round to Jan, it's a draw. If you give it to Ankalaev, he wins. There was no way for Jan to pull this one out.

And then, all three judges hand the first round to Jan. So, technically, it's a draw. But wait—one of those specialists gives the third to Ankalaev, and another scores the fifth as a 10-9. All things considered, the result isn't even that bad; the judging just sucked. 🤣

Taking a break now, I'm listening to Dana talk about Glover vs. Hill in the US for the title. He totally blew off both guys in today's main event.

Looking at the other fights... Rozen was what you'd expect. Paddy had a rough outing; in my opinion, he should've lost, though it wasn't a blatant enough robbery to start screaming about. Either way, I don't see him having a long career if he keeps taking clean shots like that right to the chin. Once that damage accumulates, he's going to start folding the moment someone sneezes on him. I feel bad for Buckley since Action man pulled the win. Action man is annoying. But Topuria? Man, he was incredible. I knew he was good—I've been following him since he showed up—but I didn't think he'd steamroll Mitchell like a freight train. Oh, and Ponzi looked like he was seconds away from a knockout a few times. He was swinging those wild haymakers, and I really thought he was done. Then out of nowhere, he lands a bomb and Morono is on the canvas. Insane.

I need to go rewatch Till. I only caught the last round, and now Dana is calling it the fight of the night.

Mike Heck just laid out a killer argument for why this split decision is actually a massive win for Paddy. Think about it: if he had grabbed the outright win, the UFC would have felt pressured to throw him in against a ranked fighter almost immediately to capitalize on the momentum. And let’s be real, any of those guys would have folded him like a lawn chair. Heck mentioned that maybe Tony is the only one who wouldn't, but there's zero chance the UFC is handing him a fight with Tony anytime soon. Instead, since he looked pretty rough and basically lost in the eyes of the fans, there's no point in pushing him up the ladder right now. This actually buys him some breathing room. Now, Paddy can probably keep grinding out wins against second or third-tier opponents. Honestly, that might be the only way to actually save his UFC career.

Look, Paddy is just a limited fighter who doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. He’s got that knack for generating clicks and likes, and that’s about where his talent ends. I honestly don't get how they handed him that win; he didn't gain any respect from it, just a massive wave of new haters. It's not even his fault—it's the judges—but listening to his "victory" speech where he claimed the fight wasn't even close and that he was way better... it was a bit much.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but Ankalaev is as boring as a rainy Monday. Even though his style is actually more engaging than the typical Dagestanac grind, he just leaves me cold, and that dull fight certainly didn't help. I also don't understand how Jan let those last two rounds slip away. He had already battered the guy's legs and defended the takedowns easily in the early rounds. That one is on him.

Topuria was great.

Completely lost track of this event. Life in the States just keeps throwing curveballs my way. I could have made a decent profit on the betting lines here; honestly, besides Ankalaev, I would've put my money on a first-round finish.

Morena held his own quite well and even wobbled Santiago a few times, but this guy is tough; one solid combination and it’s lights out.

It was expected that Rozen would put Daukaus to sleep, especially when you remember how much that badger talked trash about Stipa... 🤣

I am genuinely happy that Ilia handled that Dagestanac, beating him with strikes before finishing him with his own best weapon; that slam on the ground was brutal and masterfully executed.

Paddy was handed a win there. I can't wait for someone to finally shut that lifeless badger up; they keep building the hype, but once he runs into a Gaethje, he'll be sent straight to the bottom of the rankings.

I'm glad for Dricus. People constantly dismiss KSW as an organization and doubt their top fighters like Jan, Gamrot, and Dricus, but after this, does anyone really doubt that Soldić could dominate most of the roster there? This Till looked mediocre, despite supposedly training extensively with Chimaev...

Regarding the main event, I'm torn. My first impression was that Ankalaev won convincingly, but now I'm not quite as certain.

A title fight between Glover - Hill in the USA... it's unfortunate how much this division has declined since the days of Jones and DC...

Roger Mendoza422 said:I don't get how Jan just let those last two rounds slip away, especially since he'd already worn him down and defended those takedowns easily early on. It's on him.

Then there's the other side... did Jan lose those rounds, or did Ankalaev just fail to secure them earlier by not trying hard enough to get the fight to the ground? That's the real question.