There will be no 205-pound champion in the UFC heading into 2023 after the UFC 282 main event was declared a split draw.
Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev battled for 25 minutes Saturday night. And at the end, no winner was announced.
One judge scored the fight for Blachowicz, one for Ankalaev and the other had it 47-47. The two were meeting to crown a new champion after Jiri Prochazka vacated the belt.
The co-main event saw some controversy, as Paddy Pimblett was declared the winner over Jared Gordon. Many scoring the fight on social media sided with Gordon, and even more were shocked by the unanimous tag given to Pimblett.
Santiago Ponzinibbio stormed back to finish Alex Morono in the third round. Morono stepped in on short notice, and appeared on his way to a win before getting caught by Ponzinibbio.
Dricus du Plessis earned the biggest win of his career, submitting Darren Till with a face crank in the third round, while Ilia Topuria submitted Bryce Mitchell to begin the main card.
On the prelims, 18-year-old phenom Raul Rosas Jr. earned a win over Jay Perrin when he applied a crank in the first round. Rosas, a native of Mexico, was making his debut after scoring a win on Dana White’s Contender Series.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Edmen Shahbazyan, Chris Curtis, Billy Quarantillo, T.J. Brown and Cameron Saaiman were also winners on the prelims. All seven prelim fights were stopped early by either strikes or submission.
UFC 282 Results
Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev declared a split draw for the UFC light heavyweight title
Paddy Pimblett def. Jared Gordon via unanimous decision
Santiago Ponzinibbio def. Alex Morono via TKO (strikes) at 2:29 of Round 3
Dricus du Plessis def. Darren Till via submission (face crank) at 2:43 of Round 3
Ilia Topuria def. Bryce Mitchell via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:10 of Round 2
Raul Rosas Jr. def. Jay Perrin via submission (face crank) at 2:44 of Round 1
Jairzinho Rozenstruik def. Chris Daukaus via TKO (strikes) at :23 of Round 1
Edmen Shahbazyan def. Dalcha Lungiambula via TKO (strikes) at 4:41 of Round 2
Chris Curtis def. Joaquin Buckley via KO (strike) at 2:49 of Round 2
Billy Quarantillo def. Alexander Hernandez via TKO (strikes) at 4:30 of Round 2
T.J. Brown def. Erik Silva via submission (arm-triangle choke) at 3:41 of Round 3
Cameron Saaiman def. Steven Koslow via TKO (strikes) at 4:13 of Round 3
