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UFC 282’s main and co-main event ended in controversy.

UFC 282 petered out as the night went on last night, leading to disappointing finishes in both the main and co-main event. The main event between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Anakalev finished in a draw, after a very dull contest, meaning the UFC light heavyweight title remained vacant.

The co-main was won by Paddy Pimblett via unanimous decision. However, many onlookers thought Jared Gordon had done more than enough to hand ‘The Baddy’ his first loss in the Octagon.

Among the viewers who felt Gordon won the fight is our own Tim Burke, who live scored the fight. He gave Gordon the first round and Pimblett the second before scoring the final round for Gordon. His 29-28 scorecard for Gordon was shared by 12 other media members (per MMA Decisions). 11 other media members gave Gordon 30-27 scores. On that site, only one media member score was in favour for Pimblett.

UFC President Dana White, who yucked it up with Pimblett on a podcast a few days ago, was asked about the scoring. All White offered was a critique of Gordon.

“Jared Gordon had a terrible gameplan against Paddy Pimblett,” he said (ht bjpenn). “He shouldn’t have coasted through the third round thinking he was up on the scorecards.”

Safe to say the controversial ending won’t hurt Pimblett’s stock in the UFC.

This isn’t the first time Pimblett has benefited from a controversial judges’ decision.

In 2016 he defended his Cage Warriors featherweight title against current fellow UFC roster-mate Julian Erosa. The British judges gave Pimblett a unanimous decision win that night against the American fighter with scores of 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46.

Those scores came despite Erosa hurting Pimblett throughout the fight and edged out Pimblett on much of the grappling exchanges.

Adding to the controversy around that decision is the fact that Cage Warriors is owned by Pimblett’s manager Graham Boylan.

Despite how this one ended, Pimblett can still say he is undefeated in the UFC. And if Dana White truly thinks he beat Gordon, then the Liverpudlian could receive a step up in competition next time out. We’ll see how that goes.

A battered and disappointed Darren Till shared his thoughts on yet another loss at UFC 282 and what he plans to do in the near future.

Darren Till leaves Las Vegas and UFC 282 on a three fight losing skid and a 1-5 record over his last six fights. It’s not how “The Gorilla” wanted the weekend to go. After over a year away from active competition due to injuries, Till was hoping to get back in the win column against Dricus du Plessis … and he came very, very close (watch the highlights here).

Till and du Plessis hammered each other for two and a half tough rounds, with both men nearly securing TKO stoppages against each other. It was a massive slam halfway through round three followed by a face crank from du Plessis that ended the fight, and with it Till’s hopes of a redemptive win in 2022.

A bruised up Till recorded an Instagram video following the event where he delved into his thoughts on what was next.

“You don’t always get what you want in this life,” he said with a sigh. “It’s tough. I’m f—ing 29 now. I’ve been at the top of the sport since 2017, I entered in the UFC in 2015. I’m doing this video because I feel like I should do it now, the right time is now. I’m not retiring, this is not a retirement speech. I’m 29, that would be stupid to decide.”

“But, you know, I’m on a bit of a losing skid at the moment, I really am,” he continued. “I’m not finding my right way at the moment, and it’s crazy because when I’m in the gym sparring with the best guys in the world, I really am in my element, and then I step in the octagon and I just can seem to put things together. Then I have moments like the second round when I’m untouchable, and then certain things happen.”

“I just want to say whether you love me or hate me, I’m sorry,” Till declared. “I tried to put a show on, I never cut no corners. I do really train, maybe I train too much. I train like a f—ing man demented. The past 18 weeks I’ve given me all, and I’ve always given me all to this sport. So now, I don’t know what to do properly, but I think I’m going to have a little time off from the UFC, I don’t know, and just rethink stuff.”

“I’m not retired, I want to fight, I want to fight soon next year, but now I just want to spend Christmas with my family, have a good time with my friends, and everybody who supports me properly, my team back home.”

“I hope you enjoyed the fight and all, it was a bit of a war,” he finished. “Well done to Dricus. I felt like I had him there, I was making him switch and he was very scared to stand and strike, that’s why he was shooting for them takedowns.”

While Darren Till may be feeling pretty dreary about his fighting future, UFC president Dana White gave him some props during the UFC 282 post-fight press conference.

“That’s Fight of the Night,” White said. “I don’t think his stock drops at all. If he would have went out there and gotten destroyed in the first round like it looked like was gonna happen? But then he did the exact opposite. He weathered the storm, stayed out of submissions, and then he comes back and you think he’s gonna win the fight.”

“I thought it was an awesome fight, that’s why it was Fight of the Night and I don’t think his stock dropped at all.”