Magomed Ankalaev found an opponent for the title

One of the most interesting domestic fighters, Magomed Ankalaev, got a chance to come close to the title of UFC champion, the main in mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, in light heavyweight (up to 93 kg). In order to secure the right to a championship fight, Ankalaev, who has not suffered defeat since 2018, will have to deal with a very dangerous opponent in December – Polish MMA superstar Jan Blachowicz, who recently owned the title and dreams of regaining it.

The fact that the UFC, the main promotion in mixed martial arts, has scheduled a fight between Pole Jan Blachowicz and Russian Magomed Ankalaev for the end of the year, ESPN reported. The fight is scheduled to take place on December 10 as part of the UFC 282 tournament in Las Vegas. ESPN calls it a “contender”, meaning that its winner will certainly get the opportunity to face the holder of the light heavyweight championship. Now it belongs to the Czech Jiri Prochazka.

There is nothing strange in the fact that Magomed Ankalaev will take part in such a status fight. For several years now, he has been talked about as one of the most interesting light heavyweights among all those who compete in the UFC. The former sambist got into the promotion in 2018 and opened his career in it with the first defeat in the career of an MMA fighter. It came out extremely painful. Ankalaev, leading on the judges’ maps, managed to get into Paul Craig’s choke “triangle” in the final second of the match.

However, Magomed Ankalaev did not allow more misfires. Since losing to Craig, he’s racked up nine wins in a row, and they’ve usually been extremely convincing.

And finally, the leaders of the UFC were convinced that Ankalaev was worthy of top-level fights, apparently, his last three appearances in the octagon.

Over the past year he crossed with three opponents, each of whom won the championship title at one time. None of them could oppose anything to Ankalaev. He defeated Volkan Ozdemir and Tiago Santos on points, without giving the judges a single reason to doubt the outcome of the fight, and knocked out Anthony Smith in July in the second round.

However, the new opponent of Magomed Ankalaev looks much more dangerous than any of the previous ones. Jan Blachowicz is a real MMA superstar. The Pole in his youth specialized in Muay Thai, that is, in the percussion genre, which involves active work with both hands and feet, but gradually acquired excellent wrestling skills, having mastered, for example, jujitsu and turning into a universal fighter, virtually without weaknesses . In the UFC, Blachowicz ended up in 2014 and repeatedly took part in battles against other stars, often defeating them. And the Pole’s spectacular style earned him five awards from the promotion for the best performance of the evening.

Jan Blachowicz, who is now 39 (he is nine years older than Magomed Ankalaev), reached the peak of his career already at veteran age.

In 2020, he won the UFC title by defeating American Dominick Reyes, and then defended him by unanimous decision by defeating New Zealander Israel Adesanya, one of the most popular fighters in the world.

True, in the next fight, Blachowicz had to part with the title. He met with another celebrity – the Brazilian Glover Teixeira – and in the second round he ran into a choke in the opponent’s performance. Teixeira lost his title soon after the clash with Jiri Prochazka (the Brazilian and the Czech will have a rematch), and Blachowicz constantly reminded that he considers his loss to the Brazilian accidental and intends to climb back to the top of the light heavyweight hierarchy. He backed up his words with a good fight against the strong Serb Alexander Rakic, although circumstances helped the Pole win an early victory in the third round. Even in the course of preparation for the fight, Rakic ​​injured his knee, and during it he aggravated the injury.

Alexey Dospekhov