UFC 282 Recap: Where does the Light-Heavyweight Division go From Here?

photo creds: BJPenn.com

After an ‘interesting’ Main Event at UFC 282, I say ‘interesting’ because it was really a snooze fest, we were left with a split draw on what should have been a fight to determine the new LHW champ. Unfortunately, that puts the UFC back to square one. No champ, the current champ that was stripped of his belt still sidelined for a significant amount of time, and Glover waiting to get back in the ring himself. You would think a rematch between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev would be the move, right? Well, you were wrong, and so was I. It seems Dana White wants to put Glover Teixeira against Jamahal Hill for the vacant LHW belt and just completely avoid a rematch between Blachowicz and Ankalaev.

In a sense, I don’t blame him. Both fighters didn’t look all too sharp and just seemed to coast through the later rounds thinking they have done enough to secure a win. We all know in the UFC that is not how you impress your boss and that is not how you win over the judges, which was the case Saturday night. Both fighters seemed upset; Jan even stated he didn’t think he won the fight, whereas Magomed was so angry he didn’t get his belt he threatened to “never fight for the promotion again”.

Unfortunately, or maybe I should say fortunately, Dana is going down the path of making an entire new fight for the belt, one that I feel unsure about myself. The underlying issue with making that fight is Jamahal Hill was supposed to fight UFC contender Anthony Smith in March to headline a Fight Night bout. Dana, announcing at the post-fight presser, that he would follow through with the Glover vs Hill fight ultimately leaves Anthony Smith out of a fight at the beginning of the year, news he learned while working the post-fight show on ESPN+. Not a way you want to learn your fight got canceled, especially when your would-be opponent just got bumped up to fight for the belt. It puts Anthony Smith in a weird spot as well because all other contenders near the top of the division have now either already fought, or are hurt, leaving him with no real direction to go on who to fight next. Keep in mind, this is all information Anthony learned while on air hosting the post-fight show. A shitty way to learn about your future, right?

I personally think the UFC should have the rematch between Jan and Ankaleav, let Smith and Hill go at it, give Glover the winner of the stale rematch between Saturdays Main Event, and then if Jiri Prochazka is truly out for as long as it sounds, you can have the winner of Smith and Hill take the winner of Glover vs ‘rematch’ opponent. I know that is a complicated tree of fights but I’m doing my best to play matchmaker here. Just doing what I think would be fair to all fighters and something that would make the most sense for the LHW division. That would set up nicely for a return of Jiri whenever he is healthy enough to fight. Only downside of this scenario is I don’t think many people want to see a rematch of Saturdays Main Event as it was nothing to write home about.

In my opinion, I think it could make a great Co-Main Event on an upcoming PPV card at the start of the 2023 year. It would help give the feel of a large PPV event, those of which I feel are far and few often now and could be a great fight to co-headline a big-name fight. I know the UFC has options here, but it’ll leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths to just announce a cancelation of one fight and the agreement of another without even discussing with the fighters involved. I know the UFC must react on the fly when things like this happen, but I doubt many people saw a draw being the outcome at UFC 282.

Either way, the UFC is in a tough spot now and must make some interesting decisions to keep the top of this LHW division afloat while they wait for their true champ to return to action. Regardless, this wouldn’t be the first time we have seen this organization shuffle things around to better fit their business model, and at the same time I don’t blame them. The UFC 282 Main Event was so bland I wouldn’t want to try and sell that rematch to fans again either. It’ll be interesting to see what is next for the likes of Anthony Smith, Jan Blachowicz, and Magomed Ankalaev as fights for all three top contenders seem to be up in the air.