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After the UFC 282 headliner ended in a split draw, UFC president Dana White announced the promotion will be moving in a different direction with the vacant light heavyweight title. The bout between Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev was a split draw Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, because of which the 205-pound title remains unclaimed.
White was displeased with both Blachowicz and Ankalaev’s performance and immediately after the fight confirmed the two new competitors for the belt. The UFC president announced Glover Teixeira will face Jamahal Hill for the vacant title on January 21 at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro. Glover Teixeira was the original headliner of the UFC 282 against then-champion Jiri Prochazka. But Prochazka had to pull out because of injury and was in attendance at T-Mobile Arena for the event
Going back to Dana White, the UFC president described the fight as ‘terrible’. He then talked about about how he got bored after the first three rounds. He said, “What are you gonna do? I think the main event was terrible,” White said at the UFC 282 post-fight news conference. “What are you gonna do?”
He continued, “I started to zone out after like f*cking three rounds. I heard that Ankalaev is upset and whatever. What do you want me to do? You got beat up the first two rounds, and you took him to the ground, you started – what are you gonna do?”
Jan Blachowicz after his fight expressed that Ankalaev was the deserving winner of the fight, disagreeing with the judges’ call. He also stated he didn’t have a problem with White’s decision to book Teixeira vs. Hill. “I’m OK with that,” Blachowicz told TSN. “I was not gonna be ready for that. Let something happen. The division has to move on. Show must go on.”
