The final UFC Pay-Per-View card of the year arrived on Saturday, with UFC 282 unfolding at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The card was, to be frank, cobbled together from the leftovers of a slightly more attractive affair. The anticipated rematch between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira had been lost, thanks to a Prochazka shoulder injury that forced him to vacate the light heavyweight title.
Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev was promoted from the co-main event in its place, but didn’t have the same feel to it — and certainly not the same history.
With Robbie Lawler out of the event due to injury as well, Alex Morono stepped up against Argentinian Santiago Ponzinibbio. Ovince St. Preux, meanwhile, was off the card altogether, after a full three opponents fell out of a booking with him.
Even the early prelims had been stricken by illness and injury. Ronnie Lawrence was swapped out for Steven Kowlow, while Daniel Da Silva vs. Vinicius Salvador had been cancelled following Friday’s official weigh-in.
As a result, UFC 282 was going to have to be one of those underwhelming-on-paper cards that punched up — which was certainly a possibility. Among the quality match-ups that remained, undefeated featherweights Bryce Mitchell and Ilia Topuria were set to throw down. While Paddy Pimblett was set for his toughest test yet against Jared Gordon, though it’s position as a co-main event was only due to the loss of Saturday’s original headliner.
Following Saturday’s UFC 282 card, tune in for the post-fight press conference for all of the fallout. A live stream is available above.
