UFC 282 Prediction: Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev Prediction, Stats, and Fight Breakdown

The vacant UFC light-heavyweight title will be on the line at UFC 282 when former champion Jan Blachowicz will take on the top contender Magomed Ankalaev. The fight will take place on December 10, 2022, at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, United States. Before this fight being the main event. The then-champion Jiri Prochazka was set to make his first title defense against the former champion Glover Teixeira. The duo had previously faced each other at UFC 275, where Jiri Prochazka submitted Glover Teixeira in the fifth round of the fight. The pair was set to rematch at UFC 282, but due to an injury, Prochazka had to vacate the belt.

Glover Teixeira tried very hard to set himself up for the vacant title but could not come into negotiations with the promotion and hence the UFC went ahead with the co-main event fight between Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev and made it the headliner.

Former UFC light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz will get a chance to reclaim his throne at UFC 282. He lost the title to Glover Teixeira at UFC 267. In his last fight, he fought a fellow top contender Aleksandar Rakic. He won the fight via technical knockout as Rakic was unable to continue after an injury he suffered mid-fight. Blachowicz had previously won the belt against Dominick Reyes in another vacant UFC light-heavyweight title fight. He will try to get his belt back at UFC 282 but will have to face one of his toughest challenges to date.

Magomed Ankalaev is about to enter his first title fight. He has been asking for this for a long time and many fans wanted to see him fight for the belt due to his amazing performances in his past couple of fights. His back-to-back wins over Ion Cutelaba got the fan’s attention. He entered the UFC as an undefeated fighter, but had to face defeat in his very first bout against Paul Craig. But since then he hasn’t looked back. He is riding an astounding Nine fight-winning streak heading into his first title fight.

Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev Stats

Can Jan Blachowicz regain his belt?

The former light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz will be fighting his fourth title fight this week. His 29-9 in his MMA career. He is 4-1 in his last five fights in the UFC. The only fight he lost in his last five fights was the title defense against Glover Teixeira.

Heading into his fourth title fight, Jan Blachowicz is quite confident in his skill set and will be looking to get back his title. Though the only problem in his way is the all-around skill set of Magomed Ankalaev. If Jan has to win the fight, he will have to stuff some takedowns which will be coming his way, and even if he does that it won’t be a picnic to stand in front of Ankalaev as he possesses an equal threat on the ground as well as feet.

Jan Blachowicz has shown his wrestling techniques in his fight against Israel Adesanya. He fought Adesanya, who is considered one of the most elite strikers in UFC history, and Blachowicz won that fight in a dominant yet safe way. If he comes with some similar strategies and mindset against Ankalaev, then he can get the job done. Statistically, it is Jan Blachowicz who has the upper hand in striking. It will be interesting to see how Jan handles the wrestling of Ankalaev and uses his legendary polish power to secure the win.

Magomed Ankalaev can become another fighter from Russia to win a UFC belt

Magomed Ankalaev is one of the most talked about fighters in the light-heavyweight division in recent times. He has had an amazing run in the UFC till now. Ankalaev got a lot of attention after his back-to-back wins over Ion Cutelaba. He is 9-1 in the UFC and 18-1 in his MMA career. On his road to a title fight, he scored wins over some notable fighters such as Nikita Krylov, Volkan Oezdemir, Thiago Santos, and Anthony Smith. 

In his UFC career, he has showcased some amazing overall skills. He comes from a certified wrestling background but has shown an equal amount of striking skills. The only loss he had in the UFC was in his first fight for the promotion against Paul Craig. He lost the fight via submission. Apart from that, he has faced only slight adversity in his career. 

He will head into the title fight against Jan with a simple path to victory, as he will look to take Jan down and try to dominate him on the ground.

Looking at the stats and record on the paper, it seems a simple path to victory for Magomed Ankalaev, who will look to use his wrestling pedigree to neutralize Jan Blachowicz’s striking.

Prediction: Magomed Ankalaev defeats Jan Blachowicz via decision/ submission.