UFC 282: Błachowicz vs. Ankalaev (12/10/2022) - Las Vegas, NV (T-Mobile Arena)

[Elsalvajeloco]

[John E. Dynamite]

Shit's fake.

I wouldn't put my foot down on the matter so hard if not for the O'Malley cards. Or the worst scorecard ever we saw last night in Bellator. I dunno, tonight's decisions felt like they came from a place other than a real sport. Makes it hard to care.

[Elsalvajeloco]

12 minutes ago, John E. Dynamite said:

Shit's fake.

I wouldn't put my foot down on the matter so hard if not for the O'Malley cards. Or the worst scorecard ever we saw last night in Bellator. I dunno, tonight's decisions felt like they came from a place other than a real sport. Makes it hard to care.

Incompetent judging ain't anything new. If the Krause stuff didn't come out, people wouldn't be bitching as hard. Moreover, I doubt the UFC would want a major title fight to end in a draw when they went out of their way to make it a fight for the full title.

[The Natural]

 

[waffle]

I'm honestly surprised so many people are going so hard on the Pimbett decision. Gordon's own corner told he could've lost the 1st. 
 

Spending the entire third pushed up against the cage grabbing a leg isn't going to do you any favors either. 

[twiztor]

LOL @ the split draw.

me, the announcers, Jan, and Ankalaev all agreed that Ankalaev should be wearing the belt.

only 2 decisions on this card and they were both questionable. JFC this system is fucked.

[The Natural]

6 minutes ago, twiztor said:

LOL @ the split draw.

me, the announcers, Jan, and Ankalaev all agreed that Ankalaev should be wearing the belt.

only 2 decisions on this card and they were both questionable. JFC this system is fucked.

I admire Jan's honesty.

Only the 5th draw in a UFC Championship fight ever. Very rare. I got all five. Can you?

Spoiler

BJ Penn vs. Caol Uno II. UFC 41. 28th February 2003.

Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II. UFC 125. 1st January 2011. I fucking love that fight, it's probably #1 MMA Fight of all Time. That or Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit at UFC 195, 2nd January 2016. 

Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson I. UFC 205. 12th November 2016.

Devieson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno I. UFC 256. 12th December 2020.

Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev. UFC 282. 10th December 2022.

 

[The Natural]

Meltzer:

Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov went off on Dana White after last night's show claiming that Magomed Ankalaev was denied the UFC title due to politics and demanded they change the result of the fight with Jan Blachowicz. That isn't going to happen. White doesn't pick the judges. Ankalev after the fight said he wa so mad about the result he was thinking about leaving UFC, again blaming them for the judging. Since then he's said he didn't mean that.

Most of the talk after the show wa about the two top bouts and the judging. The problem, as we've only noted for the last 23 years, is that judging with ten point must does not mean the person the judge thinks wins the fight wins it on his card. Now I would say the Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon fight was bad judging, because Douglas Crosby and Ron McCarthy gave Pimblett round one, which Gordon clearly won. I thought Gordon clearly won the first round and Pimblett won the second. The third could have gone either way. I had Gordon but it was close enough I wasn't sure he was winning it. Two judges gave that round to Gordon and one to Pimblett. Media scores were 96 percent for Gordon but all three judges gave it to Pimblett. Pimblett got by far the biggest reactions with lots of fans wearing blond wigs. He claimed he won the first two rounds easily, so that got people mad. The reality is that Pimblett has that charisma that some guys have and most don't, but in UFC, to stay a top star you have to be able to beat the top guys. Pimblett did not seem like someone who could get into the top 15 last night, let alone be a championship contender.

In the Anakalev vs. Blachwoicz light heavyweight title fight, which was ruled a draw, I felt Blachowicz won rounds two and three solidly and Ankalaev won round four and I gave him a 10-8 in round five and also gave Ankalaev round one to end 48-46 for him But round one to me was very close and could have gone the other way, so a 47-47 draw was very possible. It's wasn't my score but a draw was not a bad score. All three judges gave the close round one to Blachowicz.

Judge Michael Bell gave Blachowicz the first three rounds, which is plausible, and had him winning 48-47. Judge Derek Clearly gave Ankalaev rounds three, four and five and gave five a 10-8 so he had a 48-46 score for Ankalaev. No way Ankalaev won round three. Sal D'Amato had a draw at 47-47 giving Blachowicz rounds one through three but giving Ankalaev a 10-8 third. 92 percent of media scores were for Ankalaev and not won had it a draw. Ankalaev had a 19-14 edge in significant strikes in round one.

The crazy thing after, which I can't explain logically, is that after the draw in a title match, White said that he hated the fight and zoned out after the third round. When asked who he thought won, he said, "I don't even know. I started to zone out after like f***ing three rounds." Ankalaev's leg was injured from all the low kicks so he'll be out for a while. So he announced that Glover Teixeira will face Jamahal Hill, two completely different fighters, for the light heavyweight title, on 1/21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Last night's title fight made no sense since Teixeira should have been in a title fight and was willing to fight on 1/21. I guess by that logic doing a title fight with him does make sense, but in theory a draw in a title fight should necessitate a rematch of those two for the title. It just keeps making the title look more like a prop than a valid championship.

More UFC notes. Darren Till said he believes he will continue fighting even though he's lost five of his last six. 

Anthony Smith was under contract to face Hill, and literally while working on the post-game show found out about Hill getting the match with Teixeira for the title meaning he was out of his fight. He literally found out on the air when White said what was next.

Edited December 12, 2022 by The Natural

[jaedmc]

That all sounds terrible.

[AxB]

Paddy Pimblett's Cage Warriors run wasn't the unqualified success that UFC wants you to think it is. They really wanted him to do a McGregor and hold the 144 and 155 belts simultaneously, but he made the mistake of actually defending the 145 and lost. Then he got put in a title decider for the vacant 155lb belt, in Liverpool, and Soren Bak beat him easily.

[Pedro]

I had $$ on Paddy and thought he lost the fight.  He is such an arrogant prick by how he smiled and strutted around after the fight that it's almost like he knew he would get the decision. The interview after made me hate the guy. But Dana has to be happy because now people will want to pay $$$ to see him get his ass kicked.  Great maketing job UFC.

 

As for the main event,  yeah the belt should be on Ankalaev right now. How a title fight can end in a draw is bullshit, even Ultimate Fighter had rules in place so that a fight would always have a clear winner. Make them fight another round with the round winner winning the fight if need be.   Based off of social media, fans were not happy with this one. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

So apparently, Doug Crosby managed to hand in two terrible scorecards two consecutive nights.

And also, Big John McCarthy's son Ron scored the Pimblett/Gordon fight for Pimblett and now Big John is vehemently disagreeing with him. I guess this isn't like Harold and Julie Lederman where Julie (usually judging in Connecticut or New York) usually scored the fights the same as her dad Harold (the unofficial scorer for HBO broadcasts until the very end) round by round.