Dana White was far from impressed with Saturday’s UFC 282 headliner, which saw Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fight to a split-draw verdict, leaving the vacant light-heavyweight title still unclaimed.
So much so in fact that even though many people believed Ankalaev did enough to win, White has decided to completely overlook both him and Blachowicz and instead hand the next opportunity to challenge for the title to Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill instead.
“I thought the main event was terrible,” White stated bluntly at the post-fight press conference.
“What are you going to do? You do Glover vs. Jamahal Hill in Brazil for the vacant title. Done.”
Former champ Teixeira had originally been lined up to fight for the belt in a rematch against Jiri Prochazka at the event this past weekend, but when his opponent pulled out due to a serious shoulder injury and vacated the title he refused a short-notice fight with Ankalaev instead, saying that he needed more time to prepare.
With that in mind, and given that so many people believed Ankalaev won then perhaps Teixeira vs. Ankalaev in Brazil would have been the most obvious option next, but instead Hill gets the opportunity, and White is likely drawn to the fact that he’s been putting on a show in his last few fights, with two first round KO victories followed by another TKO win.
Teixeira vs. Hill joins a UFC 283 card on January 21st that will also feature a fourth flyweight title fight between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno, as well as Gilbert Burns vs. Neil Magny, Jessica Andrade vs. Lauren Murphy and Johnny Walker vs. Paul Craig.
