The card itself was a winner, with ten straight finishes, so it’s a shame the last two fights are what has resonated most. With no winner in the main event, we’ll play matchmaker for both Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz here, but it’s Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill next for the light heavyweight title, at UFC 283 in January.

Magomed Ankalaev

Magomed Ankalaev was understandably disappointed with the draw result in his challenge for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 282, but the show will go on as Glover Teixeira is already booked to face Jamahal Hill next month at UFC 283 for the still-vacant belt.

Ankalaev remains in the title picture given he is ranked fourth in the division, he had won nine fights in a row before the draw with Błachowicz, and in the aftermath of that fight many thought he deserved the win including commentator Joe Rogan. Ankalaev also had the stronger claim to a title shot to begin with, given his winning streak and Jan’s recent loss to Teixeira, so it makes sense that Ankalaev would be next to fight for the belt once more against the winner of Teixeira and Hill, presuming that Jiří Procházka is not ready after his unfortunate injury which caused the belt to be vacated.

Ankalaev’s Next Fight: Winner of Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill

Jan Blachowicz

‘Legendary Polish Power’ fell just short of regaining the title he lost at UFC 282 and in the aftermath of his draw with the aforementioned Ankalaev, Blachowicz mentioned that he did not feel like he won the fight.

This is part of why this article does not have him fighting for the belt next, but also there is his loss to Teixeira and his last win, over Aleksander Rakic, having somewhat of an asterisk next to it given the freak injury that ended the fight. Still, Jan is a great fighter, beloved by many fans, and remains in the title picture with his ranking of third in the world. When Glover Teixeira vs Jamahal Hill was booked before the dust from UFC 282 had even settled, it left sixth ranked Anthony Smith without an opponent as he had been booked to fight Hill in a main event. It makes perfect sense for Jan to step in and take that spot.

Blachowicz could also fight the loser of Teixeira vs Hill but he has already lost to Teixiera and it was only last year, so that would only make sense if Hill is the loser of that title fight. Smith is a safer option and Błachowicz stepping in would save that main event, which is scheduled to take place in front of fans at The Theater at Virgin Hotels in Paradise, Nevada.

Błachowicz’s Next Fight: Anthony Smith

Paddy Pimblett

‘Paddy the Baddy’ won a controversial decision at UFC 282 over veteran Jared Gordon, Paddy’s biggest win to date. What happens next depends on whether the UFC want to keep building their star slowly or if they want to try to get him into the rankings now. In the case of the latter, Tony Ferguson would be a good opponent. The former interim champ is now on a five fight losing streak, to the dismay of fans, but is still ranked fifteenth at lightweight and would make for a competitive fight against the British star. If building him slowly is the play then Claudio Puelles is a good fight to make. The Peruvian leg-lock specialist is coming off of his first loss, a TKO loss to top fifteen lightweight Dan Hooker, since his UFC debut in 2016 and the fight is winnable for either fighter.

Pimblett’s Next Fight: Claudio Puelles

Santiago Ponzinibbio

The Argentine Ponzinibbio had a spectacular come-from-behind knockout over short notice replacement Alex Morono at UFC 282 in Las Vegas on Saturday. After being hurt and dropped in each of the first two rounds, Ponzinibbio was able to put Morono on wobbly legs before dropping him and finishing him with follow up shots. ‘The Argentine Dagger’ was once ranked as highly as sixth in the world before an injury and complications stemming from it stole three years of his career. Since then, Ponzi has been up and down as he is 2-3 since his 2021 return. It is clear that Ponzinibbio is past his prime, but he can still be competitive with most unranked welterweights.

One such welterweight is Rafael Dos Anjos, the former lightweight champion. Dos Anjos just moved up to welterweight once again, citing a desire to have fun fights as the end of his career approaches. Ponzinibbio definitely qualifies as a fun fight and the traditional rivalry between Ponzi’s country of Argentina and RDA’s Brazil adds a little spice to this booking to make things that much more interesting.

Ponzinibbio’s Next Fight: Rafael Dos Anjos

Dricus Du Plessis

Du Plessis improved to 4-0 in the octagon at UFC 282 and the streaking middleweight contender now finds himself perfectly poised to take on a top ten opponent after beating the tenth ranked Darren Till. This coming week two other top ten fighters face off as Jared Cannonier takes on Sean Strickland in a main event. The winner will be potentially close to a title shot but the loser will be likely ranked between fifth and tenth. Further, the timeline matches up perfectly as these fighters are fighting just one week after Dricus. The striking heavy style of both Strickland and Cannonier would make for an entertaining matchup with the former kickboxer Du Plessis.

Du Plessis’ Next Fight: Loser of Strickland vs Cannonier

Ilia Topuria

Topuria showed why he is such a highly touted prospect by demolishing fellow prospect Bryce Mitchell with a second round submission after dominating on the feet. The Georgian BJJ black belt has shown he is extremely well-rounded as he has three knockouts, a decision, and now a submission in the UFC after entering the promotion with all of his prior fights won by submission.

In his post-fight interview Topuria called for a main event fight against Brian Ortega, who suffered an unfortunate injury and lost to Yair Rodriguez over the summer. Ortega will hopefully be healthy enough to return to action in early to mid 2023 and that timeline would be perfect for Topuria. Both men are highly talented grapplers who also happen to possess sharp striking and knockout power, so a fight between them would be supremely entertaining no matter in what phase of MMA it takes place. Ortega has shown great cardio and durability throughout his career while the lone knock on Topuria so far in the UFC has been cardio, so this test would show the MMA world just where the 25 year old prospect is currently at.

Topuria’s Next Fight: Brian Ortega

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Main Event

The main event this past weekend was supposed to be for the vacant light heavyweight title. Since the fight ended in a draw, nobody won the title and it is still up for grabs. At the post fight interview, Dana White said that he booked a fight between Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill in January for the vacant title.

Jared Gordon

After his loss this past weekend, Gordon is 6-5 in the UFC and is in desperate need of a win. Dana White was vocal after Gordon’s fight saying “Gordon had a bad game plan going into the third round.” That was referring to Gordon taking Pimblett down in the third round to try and win a decision.

Gordon is always in exciting fights and has a very likeable backstory that the UFC would probably look to keep on the roster. And he has a lot of support from fans after this “loss.” On the flip side, it’s never fun when the boss throws you under the bus, as White did.

Vinc Pichel would be a perfect opponent for Gordon in his next fight. Gordon needs a win in his next fight and Pichel has struggled in the past with strong wrestlers. Jared Gordon is known to be tough and have good striking but also has great grappling to fall back on if he needs it. Pichel is 7-3 in the UFC which means a win over Pichel would immediately demand the respect that Gordon deserves.

Gordon’s next fight: Vinc Pichel 

Darren Till

Darren Till was submitted by Dricus du Plessis in the third round at UFC 282. Till has been working a lot on his grappling but still in this fight he was taken down and that was eventually what led to his downfall in this fight.

Till started his UFC career 5-0-1 which earned him a welterweight title shot. Since his title shot he is 1-5 only beating Kelvin Gastelum by split decision. It is very likely that Till will now take some time off — he said as much following this latest setback. It’s not unthinkable that the UFC decides to not offer him another fight and we see Till fighting in Bellator or the PFL instead for his next fight.

There’s also the question of whether middleweight is right for the ex-welterweight title challenger. There’s questions about his ACL. It’s not even fair to predict a fight for Till right now, because we have no idea when he’ll be back.

Till’s next fight: extended time off

Bryce Mitchell

Bryce Mitchell was defeated for the first time in his career this past weekend with a arm triangle loss to Ilia Topuria. Topuria was able to land some big shots on the feet, hurt Mitchell and ultimately finish him on the ground. In his next fight, Mitchell should be looking to fight someone with a decent name so that he can stay popular and keep his brand moving in the right direction.

The first name that comes to mind is Steve Garcia. Garcia is coming off a big TKO win over Chase Hooper in October. Steve Garcia is a power striker that has a similar fighting style to Topuria. This would give Mitchell the chance to prove he can beat another guy with good striking, as he did with Edson Barboza but failed to do Saturday.

Mitchell’s next fight: Steve Garcia 

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Quarantillo (17-4) was wearing some of the damage after the fight.

“I think I got like 7-8 stitches. I feel great. The best feeling in the world. It’s been a long training camp and I put so much work into this. So much time and effort and sacrifice. Getting a huge win like this it just means the world to me,” Quarantillo told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.

“It was a great way to close out the year, and getting ready for the next year now.”

Both fighters are known to put on a high pace during a fight with Quarantillo having the ability to hold that type of pace for an entire fight.

“He (Hernandez) is super aggressive when he comes out. He has a bunch of wins by first round knockout so I knew as long as I can match that pace, and he doesn’t do too much damage, that I can take over and start wearing him down and eventually break him,” he said.

Hernandez did start the fight very aggressive trying to get Quarantillo out of there quickly, but ‘Billy Q’ was able to match the intensity and wear his opponent down. Quarantillo still took some damage in the bout.

“Obviously I didn’t want to get my face busted open like that, but the game plan was actually very similar to what happened,” said Quarantillo.

Quarantillo just had a second child, a son, and in between rounds his corners asked him what his son’s birthday was. Quarantillo had taken some heavy shots and they wanted to make sure their fighter was still there.

“When he mentioned my son, and like when his birthday was, I dug a little bit deeper. I wasn’t even thinking about him until he said that. And then I didn’t even care about my cut. At that point you have to kill me to beat me,” Quarantillo said.

“I knew he wasn’t ready for that.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Billy Quarantillo above.

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It nearly ended in disaster.

Saiiman (7-0), a winner on Dana White’s Contender Series this year, landed a blatantly illegal knee in the second round that severely hurt Koslow. There were questions regarding whether Koslow would, or could, continue; had the fight stopped, it would have likely ended in a disqualification, with Koslow getting the win.

Cameron Saiiman addressed the blow following the event, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press, and made clear that the foul was unintentional.

“Yeah. I felt his head push up, so I thought if he’s pushing up, he’s probably back into the clinch position. I really apologize for that, that was super unfortunate,” said Saiiman. “Obviously not intentional. Yeah, sorry.”

The thought of the fight ending in a DQ was a concern while the minutes ticked away and Koslow recovered. “That was definitely crossing my mind. but luckily my coach and my teammate, they were in the corner, just telling me to focus on your breathing, focus on, if the fight continues, you need to be ready to go out there and finish it.”

One thing Saiiman was not aware of, however, was that Koslow’s corner had attempted to throw in the towel in the third round. That’s something that was highlighted on the UFC 282 broadcast, which suggested the corner had thrown the towel in only for it to hit the fence and go unnoticed by officials.

“That’s news to me. I would love to re-watch the fight. Honestly I think I’m super hard on myself, especially after the first round. I felt like it was quite even, I do not know what the scorecards were reading at that stage,” said Saiiman. “But the third round was definitely the one where I felt like okay, we need to go out there, and luckily we could do that.”

Despite a few dicey moments in the fight — Saiiman admitted that he may have underestimated Koslow’s grappling — his debut experience was a positive one.

“Traveling from South Africa is a tall task. Acclimatizing, all that. So it’s been really awesome, Fight Week was absolutely amazing,” he stated. “It’s my second time in Vegas, this experience is much different from the Contender Series. So it was really cool, the fans are super-welcoming, and it’s awesome.”

Watch the full UFC 282 post-fight media appearance by Cameron Saiiman above.

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“Part of me was like I wonder if he’s really going to shoot, but I was like ‘Meet me in the middle’ he’s like ‘Yeah, let’s go’ I was like oh sh*t this is happening! Didn’t expect it to actually happen, but when it did I was like oh this is great,” Curtis told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.

Curtis (30-9) was able to take advantage of his opponent throwing wild and heavy techniques at times including when he landed the shot that resulted in the KO win.

“We knew that he was going to do a lot of stuff. He’s like one of the most athletic dudes you’re going to see like running around doing stuff. He’s got that super highlight reel of doom that will never go away, but we knew that we weren’t going to be faster than him off the rip,” Curtis said.

“We knew that he hits like a truck, but we just had to expect that hey be patient, don’t worry about the flash. Just stay the course, and just drown him in deep water.”

The win and everything under his belt Curtis still can’t let go of one thing. The Jack Hermansson loss.

“Oh hell no, I’m still furious. Who do you want next? I’m like Jack Hermansson. They’re like why he just lost, I’m like I don’t care. I have to get it back. At this point guys I’ll fight Jack Hermansson every week. If he beats me every time I’ll keep coming back next week until I win one,” Curtis said.

“Then i’ll be satisfied.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Chris Curtis above.

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“It feels good to be back on the win column and end the year strong for sure,” Shahbazyan told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.

Shahbazyan (12-3) relocated to Las Vegas after leaving Glendale Fighting Club and found his place at Xtreme Couture.

“I think definitely this time off has really, really helped me. 13 months off and I really tried to go and improve myself mentally, physically, technically, everywhere in the game and I’m glad I took that time off,” he said.

“Moving to Vegas, working with my coaches, Coach Jason (Manly), Coach Dewey Cooper, my brother Leon. The guys at Xtreme, coaches at Xtreme, I appreciate all of them and I’m just so thankful for everyone.”

After starting his UFC career with 4 straight victories Shahbazyan ran into three very tough opponents and and dropped three fights in a row.

“It’s never good to be on a losing streak, but I’m back to be back on the win column for sure.”

With this fight under his belt Shahbazyan is short on time to make another 2022 appearance so he’ll wait and see what happens next.

“I’m (going) to enjoy Christmas, my favorite holiday and then the New Year, and then we’ll see. Definitely next year I’ll try to be a little more active you know, being that I took 13 months off, but that 13 months off wasn’t just off. I was working and improving every day so we’ll see,” Shahbazyan said.

“Most likely trying to be active next year.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Edmen Shahbazyan above.

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“I feel very happy. Blessed, and like I always say happy to say that the hard work is (paying) off. About Bryce he’s a good fighter, but I knew that I was way better than him everywhere. On the ground, striking and I proved it,” Topuria told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.

Topuria had joked around before the fight saying that he would leave Mitchell’s head as flat as he thought the Earth is.

“And I did it,” Topuria said with a smile.

So with that what is next for ‘El Matador’?

“I would love to fight next for the title, but I know that the champ is coming up to lightweight division so I want to fight with Brian Ortega. With T-City and it will be amazing if it’s going to happen in Madrid City,” he said.

“We’ll see what’s going to happen. Right now I want to celebrate the win with my team, enjoy it, and we’ll see what’s going to happen in the future.”

Topuria mentioning Spain as a place he’d like to fight for the UFC in brings the question of whether the promotion had approached him about it.

“Once I asked Dana and he told me that when I will be in the top 5 probably they will bring the UFC to Spain. I’m not yet in top 5 so we’ll see what’s going to happen,” he said.

Even thought his fight was with Mitchell the load of the questions during the week for Topuria involved Paddy Pimblett and their beef that dates back to an encounter in London last time the UFC was there. Topuria did watch Pimblett’s fight with Jared Gordon in the co-main event.

Pimblett took the decision in a fight that many felt Gordon won.

“They give him a Christmas gift right now because he clearly lost the fight. I don’t think anyone will disagree with me in this room,” Topuria said.

“Yeah Jared (won) all three rounds. (Paddy) didn’t win any rounds, but anyways f*ck him. Right now I’m going to celebrate my win, and like I said before, he’s not on my way right now. God bless everyone who’s not on my way. If he cross on my way then we’re going to put his head like Bryce’s head tonight.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Ilia Topuria above.

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The former KSW champion engaged in a grueling war with Darren Till, nearly putting away the British fighter in the opening round. Till mounted a comeback in the second, but come the third, Du Plessis (18-2) was able to take him down and put him away.

The South African even showed some new wrinkles in his game. “I guess tonight I came out and showed that listen, I can go for leg locks if I have to,” Du Plessis told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight. “Even surprised myself a little bit with that.”

The main card scrap earned Fight of the Night at UFC 282, and Du Plessis was equally happy with showing his well-rounded skill set.

“I shot for a few takedowns that didn’t land, and even though I don’t really care if they landed, because it was a stand-up war, I don’t like it if anybody thinks that I’m not good anywhere in this sport,” he stated. “I’m good everywhere. And I wanted to come out and prove that tonight.”

Du Plessis admits to being surprised at how things played out in the first round. That saw him land virtually dozens of unanswered strikes on Till. “I got the takedown and then all of a sudden I had his arm trapped, and I was just landing these massive shots.” In the next moment, the ref was warning Till that he would stop the fight. “I’m glad the ref didn’t stop the fight,” Dricus admitted. “A lot of people said ‘maybe he could have.’ No. It was fair play. Every time the ref told him and warned him, he did improve his position.”

In the third round, Du Plessis knew it was time to finish the fight. “I didn’t even consider that fact that I was going to go to a decision, I knew I was going to finish that fight. And I knew if I could take Darren down, I could finish the fight at any moment.”

On the subject of whether he wants a gradual build, or a quick run to the top, Dricus Du Plessis really only sees one option.

“I think gradually, that ship has sailed. I just beat Darren Till. I just made my proper stamp, I just got a proper stamp in a Fight of the Night in the top 10 of the division,” he stated. “I said in my last fight that I will be in the top 10 before the end of the year. Here I am.”

“I’m telling you guys now I’ll be a title contender by the end of 2023.”

Another South African fighter, Cameron Saiiman, made his promotional debut at UFC 282, and Du Plessis is thrilled for his teammate and countryman. Saiiman defeated Steven Koslow in the first fight of the night in Las Vegas.

“I’m so incredibly happy for him. This kid has put in all the work. And he deserves to be here. He deserves to be here, and he showed that tonight. That’s what I wanted people to see. A lot of people said ‘oh he’s too young, it’s too early.’ I wanted tonight to be so amazing that I don’t have to tell anybody. We don’t have to tell anybody that Cameron deserves to be here. Cameron showed he deserves to be here tonight.”

Watch the full UFC 282 post-fight press conference with Dricus Du Plessis above.

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“I feel great man. Too many crazy things, you know? Change the opponent, change the weight, change too many things. I’m coming back here (from) so many injuries, I need to wait for so long. A little (stressful of a) week,” Ponzinibbio told Cageside Press among other media at his post-fight scrum.

Ponzinibbio (29-6) was originally scheduled to face former welterweight champion Robbie Lawler at UFC 282. Lawler unfortunately withdrew from the fight due to injury, and Morono stepped in to take his place.

“Of course I (didn’t) prepare for him. (It took) a little time to read him,” he said.

The first two rounds saw Ponzinibbio having to adjust his game plan on the fly with Morono being a very different style opponent.

“I prepared for a southpaw for a guy that uses more boxing that (has) different movement. This guy moves more, kicks, have more jiu jitsu, he’s different,” said Ponzinibbio.

Going from fighting a former champion to taking on an up-and-comer wasn’t a huge deal for Ponzinibbio when he took into consideration the momentum Morono brought to the fight.

“If you’re talking about the names of course Lawler is a bigger name, he’s a legend. But if you’re talk the momentum this kid have better momentum. He won 8 of last 10 fights in UFC, four in a row. Robbie is not coming the same way,” he said.

The fight was also supposed to be at 170 pounds, but with Morono coming in on short notice a catchweight of 180 pounds was agreed to.

In between the second and third rounds Ponzinibbio’s corner let him know that he likely lost the first two rounds and would need to pull off a finish if he wanted to win the fight.

“Going into the third round my corner told me probably we lose the two rounds you need to do something. I go forward, I tried to put my right hand, and thank God I take it,” he said.

“I believe more in myself. I believe I’m big heart. You know I have the capacity to do the things and I prove to me one more time that I can do that.”

Now that the fight is over Ponzinibbio looks ahead to the next challenge.

“Brother, I don’t know. This kid come in very well. 8 victories in 10 fights in UFC is not everyone. I think I proved to the world I can stay with the top 10. I try to take any challenge there. I have a lot of exciting fights,” Ponzinibbio said.

“We will see what happens. Maybe top 10, I wish. If not, to be honest, I don’t want to have too much time waiting. I want to take a fight soon.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Santiago Ponzinibbio above.

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After two electrifying performances earlier this year at the O2 Arena in London, both submission wins, Pimblett (20-3) went the distance with Jared Gordon Saturday at UFC 282 in the card’s co-main event.

The fight was dull by Pimblett’s standards, with the third round a grappling-heavy affair with minimal damage inflicted by either man. The first two rounds, more active and more competitive, appeared to be split — but all three judges, including Doug Crosby, who submitted a baffling 50-45 score in Friday night’s Raufeon Stots vs. Danny Sabatello fight at Bellator 289, scored it 29-28 in favor of Pimblett.

The reaction online from fellow fighters, media members, and fans was predictably critical, with many calling the result a robbery.

Paddy “the Baddy,” not surprisingly, disagreed. “I’m sound, know what I mean? Everyone’s got an opinion, lad. Opinions are assholes. Everyone’s got one,” Pimblett stated during the event’s post-fight press conference. “I know I won that fight, simple as. I deal in facts, and I won a unanimous decision. It’s not even like it was a split decision. Look at his face and look at mine. Fights get scored on damage now. I landed a lot more damage. End of.”

So why the outcry from his peers? That, suggested Pimblett, is “because I’m me. It’s just cause I’m me.”

When Pimblett asked who among his fellow fighters had been critical, former bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz was one name singled out. “I was sitting next to Dominick Cruz before, and I said to him, control time means nothing. Damage,” noted Pimblett. “Look at my face and look at Jared’s. I don’t care what anyone says, lad. When you look back at the history books, I’ve got the little green marker next to my name with a W. Everyone else can suck my asshole.”

Pimblett was more giving when it came to opponent Gordon, despite “Flash” himself also posting on social media that he had been robbed following the fight. Yes, Gordon likely was his toughest test to date, Pimblett acknowledged.

“He can take a punch, lad. I hit him some big shots, and he kept coming forward. Hat’s off to Jared, he’s a phenomenal fighter, and also a phenomenal human being.”

When it comes to the scoring of the fight, Pimblett initially agreed with the judges — but after reviewing the stats post-fight, now believes he’d done enough to win all three rounds.

“I knew I’d won the first two. People don’t have to tell me. But when I looked at the stats after the fight, I think I won all three. In the cage, I thought that he’d won the third. When it said 29-28, I was like ‘yeah, good decision. I won the first two, he won the third,'” said Pimblett. “But then after looking back at the stats, four significant strikes in the third. Control time doesn’t mean jack sh*t any more lad.”

Pimblett also told Cageside Press that he had some sympathy for Gordon, an American booed in his own country when he walked out at UFC 282.

“I felt bad for Jared when he walked out and got booed, to be honest. I did, I felt bad for Jared because he’s a nice, very nice man, he didn’t deserve to get booed. But it just shows how good my fans are and what star power I’ve got. That walkout was spectacular. That’s up there with the O2 and the Echo Arena in Liverpool. That was special, lovely walkout.”

Watch the full UFC 282 post-fight press conference with Paddy Pimblett above.

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