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The light heavyweight title remained vacant Saturday night after judges awarded the main event in UFC 282 a draw so controversial that both fighters, Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev, agreed Ankalaev should have won the belt.
During the post-fight interview in the octagon, No. 3 Blachowicz (29-9-1) walked over to fourth-ranked Ankalaev (18-1-1) and told him he deserved the belt.
Ankalaev was so upset over the decision he said through a Russian interpreter he didn’t know if he would “fight in this organization again.”
“I won that fight,” Ankalaev said. “I won the belt. Where is my belt?”
Judge Mike Bell scored the fight 48-47 for Blachowicz, Derek Cleary 48-46 for Ankalaev and Sal D’Amato 47-47.
Blachowicz seemed embarrassed by the decision.
“Maybe we can have a rematch,” Blachowicz said somewhat sheepishly. “I don’t choose the judges.”
The co-main event also went to the scorecards, and there was far from widespread agreement among the fans about the results of that fight as well.
Even if Blachowicz-Ankalaev was the main event, much of the crowd came to see England’s Paddy Pimblett in the co-main fight. American Jared Gordon, 34, had other ideas, dictating the tempo in the lightweight match even as the crowd repeatedly yelled, “Let’s go, Paddy!”
But even much of the crowd had trouble believing the decision, with many booing Pimblett (20-3) winning 29-28 on all three judges’ cards.
