Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will send No. 2-ranked former champion Jan Blachowicz into battle against No. 3-ranked light heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev atop the UFC 282 pay-per-view (PPV) event, locked and loaded for TONIGHT (Sat., Dec. 10, 2022) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev was elevated from title eliminator to title fight when then-champion Jiri Prochazka blew out his shoulder and was forced to surrender the strap. Ex-titleholder Glover Teixeira was unwilling to accept a new opponent on short notice (more on that story here) and will instead head to the sidelines to await his next assignment.
The 29-9 Blachowicz captured six of his last seven and rebounded from his championship loss to the aforementioned Teixeira by outlasting the injured Aleksandar Rakic back in May. Ankalaev (17-1) is the winner of nine straight with five nasty finishes, including last summer’s technical knockout victory over veteran bruiser Anthony Smith.
Check out their fight video preview embedded above.
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