A light heavyweight showdown between former undisputed division champion, Jan Blachowicz, and surging Russian force, Magomed Ankalaev is set to land at UFC 282 on December 10. The event is scheduled to take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Headlining UFC Vegas 54 back in May, former champion, Blachowicz managed to defeat Aleksandar Rakic in the third round, after the latter suffered a knee injury in their UFC Apex facility event.
Featuring most recently at UFC 277 back in July, Ankalaev turned in successive victory number nine, the Russian striker finish one-time title challenger, Anthony Smith with second round strikes – after the Nebraska native himself suffered a leg injury. ESPN MMA reporter, Brett Okamoto was first to report the news of Jan Blachowicz’s return against Magomed Ankalaev.
“No. 2 Jan Blachowicz vs. No. 3 Magomed Ankalaev is set for UFC 282 on Dec. 10, per sources,” Okamoto tweeted. “Gotta believe this will produce the next light heavyweight title contender after Glover Teixeira.”
Rebounding to the winner’s enclosure with his victory against Rakic back in May, Poland fan-favorite, Blachowicz suffered a second round rear-naked choke loss to former champion, Glover Teixeira in Abu Dhabi, UAE – dropping his championship.
Jan Blachowicz clinched the light heavyweight title back in 2020
Assuming the vacant throne back in September 2020, former KSW light heavyweight titleholder, Blachowicz stopped Dominick Reyes before scoring his sole successful title defense with a unanimous decision triumph against middleweight kingpin, Israel Adesanya.
18-1 as a professional, in his single professional defeat, Ankalaev dropped a buzzer-beating submission loss to Paul Craig at UFC London back in March 2018.
Amongst is UFC victories, Ankalaev has defeated the likes of Ion Cutelaba, Nikita Krylov, as well as former title chasers, Volkan Oezdemir, and recent PFL acquisition, Thiago Santos. Ankalaev also boasts 10 career knockout wins.