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

Topuria absolutely dismantled Mitchell.
I've been tracking him since his early days in the UFC, and honestly, I think he'll be ready for the big stage in a year or two.

Mitchell 😢

Ilia is damn good; I really hope they match him up with Paddy soon. By the way, that decision was a total robbery—the way Dana keeps talking about that last round is ridiculous. Paddy might have taken the second, but that’s a massive "maybe." Gordon took everything else. Especially when you consider who he's being called fight of the night. 🤦

That hype train is going to derail eventually. There is zero chance that guy cracks the top 10 at LW; maybe top 15 if they throw a has-been like Tony his way. I'll give him this one thing, though: his walkout music is an absolute banger. 👍

Ponzi's fight was solid too, but Till vs du Plessis was easily the best one on the card. I haven't caught the main event yet, but from what I'm reading, it was a snooze fest. This division is pure chaos.

It’s not happening—Topuria and Paddy aren't going to be fighting in the same division anytime soon. They’re both carving out their own paths. Honestly, I can see Topuria becoming a champion down the line; he's only 25, after all. As for Paddy, he'll definitely progress, but I don't see him ever breaking into the top 10. Even though plenty of people can't stand him, there's more to him than just being a showman. When he gets serious, you know you're in trouble; so far, he’s showing he has heart to match that beard. I also thought Rozen would never crack the top 5, yet here we are after he took down Yan. Sure, it could have gone Yan's way, but the consensus is that he caught everyone by surprise. Yan had never really been beaten up like that before this fight. Sterling handled him in a completely different way. Bottom line: don't write Paddy off just yet.
In my book, Jan - Ankalaev wasn't a robbery like everyone is claiming. Personally, I'd have a hard time scoring that one, but maybe because of that final round impression, it goes to Ankalaev.

There were plenty of questions surrounding O'Malley's level of competition, but when he was actually putting people away, he looked pretty convincing. You could see the speed and the technique, and he wasn't taking much damage either. That one loss was clearly due to injury; up until then, he looked solid even against a top 5 fighter like Chito. Honestly, there's just way more raw talent there than what we see from Paddy, who seems to soak up strikes in every single fight. O'Malley has genuine tools and finishing ability, but let's be real: the top 10 guys are going to dismantle him. Take someone like Turner—he’s a total wildcard, barely gets any buzz, and I think he’d wrap up Paddy in the first round. The real question is how long they can keep feeding him these matchups before the hype train inevitably derails.

This weekend was definitely a disaster for him. His post-fight comments were just... wtf? Even Sugar Sean looked better after his controversial win. If you ask me, this fight was even more questionable. Dan was awful, and Gordon's tactics were absolutely atrocious. 🤣

Come on, man, try to be a little less biased here. We all saw how he reacted to the decision.

Look, the injury was definitely real, but Chito basically handed it to him on a silver platter. Back then, Chito wasn't even a top 5 fighter yet; he was just a stepping stone meant to build up Sugar Sean. Once he moved past that, he knocked him out, lost to Aldo, and then proceeded to absolutely dismantle everyone else thrown his way, including guys like Edgar, Font, and Cruz.
But seriously, O'Malley is undeniably a high-level talent. On the flip side, Paddy clearly isn't at the UFC level just yet. Maybe he gets there one day, but he needs to actually start making progress first. For now, the UFC really needs to be careful and feed him much easier opponents for the next two or three years.

I’m telling you, it isn't quite there yet, though maybe one day they'll surprise us all. Looking at the big picture right now, the odds of them ever breaking into the top 10 seem pretty slim...
I remember how everyone was talking about Sean before his fight with Yan. It's easy to play armchair expert now. Honestly, I used to think he had zero chance of hitting the top 5, and yet, here we are watching him do it...