Jiri Prochazka Vacates UFC Light Heavyweight Title Due To Injury, Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalev Made Official For Vacant Title At UFC 282

By Rami J. Hanna Last updated Nov 24, 2022

A huge setback for the UFC Light Heavyweight champion has now led to a new title fight this December.

Prochazka was set to defend his light heavyweight title for the first time in the main event of UFC 282 against Glover Teixeira. It was an immediate rematch of their UFC 275 fight which Prochazka won by fifth-round submission.

However, according to Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole, Prochazka has suffered an injury and withdrew from the fight.

Along with that, he vacated the title while the new UFC 282 main event will see Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev. UFC 282 goes down on December 10 from the T-Moblie Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

BREAKING: Jiri Prochazka PUT of UFC 282 with serious injury. Glover turned down title fight. Jiri vacated. New main event is Blachowicz vs Ankalaev. Story soon on @YahooSports
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) November 23, 2022

Jiri Prochazka is out of UFC 282 due to a severe orthopedic injury. Timeframe for recovery is upwards of a year. According to UFC and Jiri's representatives, it was his decision to vacate the belt out of respect for other contenders. Jiri's injury first reported by @KevinI.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) November 23, 2022

Teixeira turned down the title fight.

Blachowicz and Ankalaev were set to fight in the co-main event of the card and will now be the main event for the vacant light heavyweight title.

Jiri Prochazka is a perfect 3-0 in the UFC as before he beat Teixeira, he knocked out Dominick Reyes and Volkan Oezdemir. He’s also the former RIZIN light heavyweight champion.

Jan Blachowicz (29-9) is coming off a TKO win over Aleksandar Rakic in a fight Rakic hurt his knee. Prior to that, he was submitted by Glover Teixeira to lose his light heavyweight title. The Pole defended the belt once with a decision win over Israel Adesanya while he won the vacant title with a KO win over Reyes.

Magomed Ankalaev (18-1) is riding a nine-fight win streak and coming off a TKO win over Anthony Smith back in July. On the win streak, he holds notable wins over Thiago Santos, Oezdemir, Nikita Krylov, and Ion Cutelaba among others.

With Prochazka-Teixeira off and Blachowicz-Ankalaev as the main event, UFC 282 is now as follows:

Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev – vacant light heavyweight title
Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Robbie Lawler
Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon
Bryce Mitchell vs. Ilia Topuria
Darren Till vs. Dricus Du Plessis
Edmen Shabazyan vs. Dalcha Lungiambula
Billy Quarantillo vs. Alexander Hernandez
Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Chris Daukaus
Erik Silva vs. TJ Brown
Chris Curtis vs. Joaquin Buckley
Daniel da Silva vs. Vinicius Salvador
Ronnie Lawrence vs. Cameron Saaiman
Jay Perrin vs. Raul Rosas Jr.
Ovince Saint Preux vs. Philipe Lins

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