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A new light heavyweight champion was supposed to be crowned at UFC 282 as Magomed Ankalaev and ex-champ Jan Blachowicz went to war; however, the match was ruled a split-draw.
The two 205-pound combatants met in the night’s headliner at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. They battled for the vacant belt as Jiri Prochazka dropped the strap a few weeks back after he suffered a serious shoulder injury.
Blachowicz had major success battering the legs of Ankalaev, but the latter used the championship rounds to control the Polish fighter on the ground. And although UFC color commentators Joe Rogan said he scored the bout for Ankalaev, the judges saw it differently, scoring it (48–47, 46–48, 47–47).
Ankalaev now sports a professional mixed martial arts record of 17-1-1, and he’s 9-0-1 in his last ten Octagon appearances. And as for Blachowicz, his record is now 29-9-1.
Prochazka, Francis Ngannou & Others React to Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev
Take a look at some reactions to the main event via MMA Twitter:
Prochazka, the man who was supposed to make his first 205-pound title defense at UFC 282, tweeted: “I just watched the ‘title’ Fight. Everyone knows who the Champion is. Just give me some time.”
UFC heavyweight king Francis Ngannou tweeted: “Ankalaev won this fight. Give the man his f****** belt.”
“The MMA Hour” host and journalist Ariel Helwani tweeted: “oh my gosh. a split draw in the main. what a disaster.”
“LOL!” CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri tweeted. “The UFC light heavyweight title remains vacant thanks to a split draw. What a hilarious way to end the year.”
“Jan Blachowicz says Magomed Ankalaev should be UFC light heavyweight champion,” the journalist continued. “Honorable guy.”
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole tweeted: “Scores: 48-47 Blachowicz, 48-46 Ankalaev, 47-47 draw. ARE YOU KIDDING ME.”
More Individuals in the MMA Community Reacted to the Decision, Including UFC Bantamweight Champion Aljamain Sterling
CBS Sports’ Luke Thomas wrote: “The judges had the least amount of work in ages tonight and still managed to wildly f*** it up. Impressive.”
“Can we take a moment to applaud Jan Blachowicz for the way he handled what was obviously a very bizarre and uncomfortable situation?” MMA Fighting’s Shaheen Al-Shatti tweeted. “Man is nothing but class.”
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto tweeted: “Two of the three judges scored the fifth round for Ankalaev 10-8, resulting in the draw and the 48-46. Mike Bell scored the first three rounds for Jan, resulting in the 48-47 for him, no 10-8 round by Mike Bell in the fifth.”
MMA bettor Luca Fury, who earlier in the night called Paddy Pimblett’s decision win over Jared Gordon a “robbery,” tweeted: “At this point, I would be utterly shocked to find out that all MMA decisions over the last year in the UFC wedre clean. How many times are we going to play the game of mental gymnastics to justify how they could’ve botched the score? It’s corruption or bias, plan and simple.”
Current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling tweeted: “I have no words #UFC282.”
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