A potential No. 1 contender in the light heavyweight division is set.
Brett Okamoto of ESPN reports Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev are expected to share the Octagon at UFC 282, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for Dec. 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Though not officially announced yet, a rematch between reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jiří Procházka and Glover Teixeira is supposed to serve as the headliner of UFC 282, so Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev joining the line-up makes sense.
No. 2 Jan Blachowicz vs. No. 3 Magomed Ankalaev is set for UFC 282 on Dec. 10, per sources. Gotta believe this will produce the next light heavyweight title contender after Glover Teixeira. pic.twitter.com/QJ1LvBHscR
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 11, 2022
Blachowicz returned to the win column with a third-round TKO of Aleksandar Rakić at UFC Vegas 54 this past May. Prior to that, the former UFC light heavyweight champion was dethroned by Teixeira, who submitted him by second-round rear-naked choke at UFC 267 last October. Blachowicz also had a five-fight win streak snapped.
Since his loss to Paul Craig in his first UFC fight four years ago, Ankalaev has won nine straight. In some of his most recent appearances, the former WFCA light heavyweight champion bested a trio of one-time title challengers in Volkan Oezdemir, Thiago Santos and Anthony Smith, the latter of which by second-round TKO at UFC 277 in July.
With the addition of Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev, UFC 282 now has 12 confirmed fights. The line-up is as follows:
- Robbie Lawler vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
- Dricus Du Plessis vs. Darren Till
- Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev
- Ovince Saint Preux vs. Alexander Gustafsson
- Chris Daukaus vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik
- Joaquin Buckley vs. Chris Curtis
- Alexander Hernandez vs. Billy Quarantillo
- Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
- Dalcha Lungiambula vs. Edmen Shahbazyan
- TJ Brown vs. Erik Silva
- Vinicius Salvador vs. Daniel da Silva
- Ronnie Lawrence vs. Cameron Saaiman
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