Alex Pereira On Alert as Jan Blachowicz Reveals Plans to Sort “Unfinished Business” With Magomed Ankalaev

An extraordinary yet unfortunate set of events occurred on the night of December 10, 2022, at UFC 282. Two men talked into the Octagon to fight for the light heavyweight title, but none walked away as the new champion. How could that happen you ask? Well, Magomed Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz fought for the then-vacant 205-pound title atop the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas card but fought to a split draw (48-47, 46-48, 47-47).

Initially, the Pole was getting the better of the Dagestani, chewing his shins with some fantastic leg kicks. However, ‘Big Ank’ rebounded beautifully in the latter rounds, and dominated Blachowicz in the championship rounds. By the end of their sanctioned five rounds, the judges were split. The fight was scored a draw and the light heavyweight title shockingly remained vacant. This was certainly not what the UFC brass wanted as the division’s future remained in limbo.

Moreover, it led to White famously bypassing his “we will see this on Tuesday” rule and immediately announcing the next outing to crown the new 205lbs champ in the post-fight presser. And to everyone’s surprise, it did not feature ‘Big Ank’ or the Pole but Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill at UFC 283 in Brazil. As you can imagine, Blachowicz, who has been out for the past two years due to an injury, thinks he has unfinished business with Ankalaev, who is now the reigning champ.

The Dagestani, of course, made things right for himself by beating Alex Pereira to become the new champion at UFC 313 earlier this month. However, Blachowicz did not. And the 42-year-old, who is set to face young knockout artist Carlos Ulberg at UFC London this Saturday, has understandably called for a rematch with Ankalaev.

“It’s normal [that the title] changes owners every couple of years. For me, it’s good because I have unfinished business with Ankalaev. Of course, I have a job to do this Saturday, and I’m focused on that. But I believe I’m going to be a winner this Saturday, so maybe after that [the fight with Ulberg], we’ll have to finish what we started with Ankalaev,” the Polish powerhouse told reporters at the pre-UFC London presser.

Jan Blachowicz is eyeing a rematch with new UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev after #UFCLondon pic.twitter.com/82IoMrnOSp

— MMA Orbit (@mma_orbit) March 20, 2025

Of course, the only issue in Blachowicz’s plan seems to be Alex Pereira, who is set to rematch Ankalaev after losing the title to him at UFC 313. And it seems that Blachowicz will have to wait at least until this rematch to fight Ankalaev. Or will he?

Is Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev 2 next?

The trio of Alex Pereira, Magomed Ankalaev, and Dana White have seemingly agreed to a title rematch after UFC 313. Moreover, looking at ‘Big Ank’s recent X posts, it seems the rematch may have been fast-tracked. “Alex when you’re ready to go again. You deserve this,” Ankalaev wrote in an X post on Tuesday.

On Thursday, the new light heavyweight champ again put out a similar X post. “I have a date and I accepted already, I hope my opponent will accept too. This time there will be no 5 rounds, I don’t get paid by the hour,” Ankalaev declared.

Moreover, ‘Poatan’ put out a story in reply on his Instagram. The former champ is seemingly ready to run it back against ‘Big Ank’ for the title. “Bora (Let’s go) Ali. Chama.” This indicates that the anticipated rematch is in the works and we may see the duo again very soon.

But as they say, it’s not official until it is inked in certainty! Who gets a rematch with the Dagestani champ remains to be seen. What do you think about Jan Blachowicz’s desire to rematch Magomed Ankalaev?

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