Fight Facts: UFC 282 ‘Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev’

Fight Facts is a breakdown of all of the interesting information and Octagon oddities on every card, with some puns, references and portmanteaus to keep things fun. These deep stat dives delve into the numbers, providing historical context and telling the stories behind those numbers.

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TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC FIGHTS: 6,932
TOTAL NUMBER OF UFC EVENTS: 630

The Ultimate Fighting Championship staged its final pay-per-view offering of the year, which built up to a crescendo that it could not sustain in the co-main and headlining attractions. The momentum of the eventful fight card came to a crashing halt in the end, bringing with it high drama and bizarre scorecards. UFC 282 featured a championship belt that still lay dormant at night’s end, a pair of irregular crank submissions and a wunderkind who passed his first UFC test with flying colors.

Making It Rain: A whopping 11 post-fight bonus checks totaling $550,000 went out to various fighters at the event, with nine finishers earning awards as well as “Fight of the Night” participants Dricus Du Plessis and Darren Till. This dollar amount ties UFC on ESPN 37 in June for the most at a single UFC card, which also dished out money to every stoppage procurer.

Lazy Rear-Naked Chokes: Throughout the fight card, both du Plessis and Raul Rosas Jr. picked up submission wins by face or neck crank. UFC 282 is now the first event in organization history to see two head crank-related finishes take place in one night.

Bring on Sudden Victory Rounds: In the final fight of the card, Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fought to a split draw. Their draw is just the fifth in a UFC championship bout, joining B.J. Penn-Caol Uno, Frankie Edgar-Gray Maynard 2, Tyron Woodley-Stephen Thompson and Deiveson Figueiredo-Brandon Moreno 1.

Collecting Dust: Of those five draws in title fights, only two of those have taken place for vacant belts. Penn vs. Uno, which concluded the promotion’s lightweight tourney, ended with no man claiming the strap. The UFC had no 155-pound champion from early 2002 to late 2006.

Like Kissing Your Sister: In the history of the UFC, five main events have now concluded with draw results. The first came between Edgar and Maynard in 2011, then Penn vs. Jon Fitch a month later, Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva in 2013 and Figueiredo vs. Moreno in 2020.

Unclaimed Freight: By stepping in the cage to vie for the vacant championship strap, Blachowicz became the third fighter in organizational history to fight twice for a throne with no owner, as he competed for the belt Jon Jones abandoned in 2020. Lightweights Penn and Charles Oliveira had done this prior to Blachowicz.

Polish Power, Not Polish Power Getup: Across his UFC tenure, Blachowicz has encountered five adversaries that took him down more than once. He has not won any of those matches when suffering multiple takedowns. Ankalaev officially grounded the Polish ex-champ twice.

Face Frozen: Due to the short-notice nature of their pairing, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Alex Morono competed at 180 pounds. The “Argentinian Dagger” put Morono away in the third round, the 10th of 13 intentionally booked catchweight contests in the UFC this year to have ended by stoppage.

Stillchokes: Recording the tap in the third round, du Plessis forced Till to surrender with a face crank. As a professional, “Stillknocks” posts a 94% finish rate, with three stoppages in his four UFC outings thus far.

Drilled Mitchell: Still undefeated at 13-0, Ilia Topuria blew through fellow unbeaten Bryce Mitchell in two rounds, tapping the submission specialist with an arm-triangle choke. With finishes in his last four walks to the cage, “The Matador” posts a stellar stoppage rate of 92% as a pro.

You Still Have Spots: At 18 years and two months of age, Rosas Jr. is officially the youngest fighter to ever compete in the Octagon. He comes in greener than karateka Sean Daugherty, who fought at UFC 2 in 1994 at 18 years and three months and lost by quick submission. As a result, Rosas is also the most youthful to pick up a win, doing so by submitting Jay Perrin.

Some Kid: Rosas Jr. kept his perfect young record intact by putting Perrin away in the first round. Winner of all seven pro contests, Rosas Jr. has finished six of those foes inside the distance, with five coming in the opening frame.

Bigi Boy, Biggier Knockouts: In only 23 seconds, Jairzinho Rozenstruik leveled Chris Daukaus. The Suriname native has earned 92% of his wins by knockout, while recording his third UFC knockout in less than 30 seconds. He is the first fighter in UFC history to achieve this three-peat feat, surpassing the likes of Anthony Johnson, Francis Ngannou and Penn.

Vegas Edmen: Getting back in the win column for the first time since 2019, Edmen Shahbazyan stopped Dalcha Lungiambula in Round 2. “The Golden Boy” has finishes in 11 of his 12 pro wins, with his lone decision coming against Darren Stewart in 2018.

Unwelcome Return to 145: Late into the second round, Billy Quarantillo melted Alexander Hernandez with offense to secure the stoppage. While his finish rate sits at 76%, he has excluded the judges in eight of his last nine victories.

We’re Going Downtown: “Downtown” T.J. Brown throttled newcomer Erik Silva in the third frame to earn his first stoppage as a UFC fighter. The tapout was his 10th as a pro, with seven of those coming via arm-triangle choke.

Saaiman Says: Bleed: To open the event, Cameron Saaiman pummeled Steven Koslow to force the late finish with less than a minute left in the match. The South African UFC debutant has recorded stoppages in six of his seven pro wins, while still never tasting defeat.

Never Say Never Again: Coming into UFC 282, Jared Gordon had never lost on the scorecards (24 fights), Mitchell (15 fights) and Koslow (six fights) had never been defeated and Perrin had never suffered a loss earlier than the third round (16 fights).

Fus Ro Draw: Rarely picking the same track twice, Blachowicz made a splash with his walkout to “The Song of the Dragonborn” composed by Jeremy Soule for the “Skyrim” game soundtrack. This unique song selection did not accompany a win.

Well He Seemed Broken-Hearted: For the second bout in a row, Gordon picked “Edge of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks as a walkout tune. Unlike his triumphant August appearance against Leonardo Santos, “Flash” was not so lucky this time out. Gordon and Emily Whitmire are still the only two fighters to select Stevie Nicks songs.

He Didn’t Give a F: Tempting fate, Hernandez went with “Just Don’t Give a F---” by Eminem, and he succumbed to strikes in the second round. Dating back the last five months, every UFC fighter to walk out to an Eminem track has lost.