Jan
Blachowicz
reached the
Ultimate Fighting Championship mountaintop once before and now
gets the opportunity to do so again. The Polish powerhouse squares
off with
Magomed
Ankalaev for the vacant light heavyweight title in the
UFC 282 headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas,
where the victor will replace
Jiri
Prochazka—a shoulder injury forced the Czech from his throne on
Nov. 23—atop the 205-pound weight class. Blachowicz has rattled off
six wins across his past seven appearances. He held the light
heavyweight crown from Sept. 27, 2020 to Oct. 30, 2021. Ankalaev,
meanwhile, enters the cage on the strength of a nine-fight winning
streak. He last competed at UFC 277, where he took care of
Anthony
Smith with punches in the second round of their July 30
encounter. As Blachowicz and Ankalaev move ever closer to their
forthcoming battle in Sin City, a look at some of the numbers that
have accompanied them to this point: 39: Years of age for
Blachowicz, who was born in Cieszyn, Poland, on Feb. 24, 1983. 9:
Blachowicz wins by submission, accounting for 31% of his career
total (29). His methods of choice: five rear-naked chokes, three
armbars and one arm-triangle choke. Blachowicz holds nine other
wins by knockout or technical knockout (31%) and 11 more by
decision (38%). 95: Seconds needed for Blachowicz to put away
Daniel
Dowda with punches at KSW “Elimination” on Sept. 15, 2007. More
than 15 years later, it remains his fastest finish to date. 787:
Significant strikes landed by Blachowicz as a UFC light
heavyweight, placing him fifth on the promotion’s all-time list at
205 pounds. Only
Jon Jones
(1,463),
Glover
Teixeira (878),
Mauricio Rua
(871) and
Forrest
Griffin (796) have connected with more. 148: Combined victories
between the nine men—Teixeira,
Thiago
Santos,
Patrick
Cummins,
Alexander
Gustafsson,
Corey
Anderson,
Jimi Manuwa,
Rameau
Thierry Sokoudjou,
Andre Fyeet
and
Marcin
Krysztofiak—who have defeated Blachowicz. They sport a
cumulative .655 winning percentage at 148-78. 30: Years of age for
Ankalaev, who was born on June 2, 1992 in Makhachkala, Russia. 9:
Ankalaev wins by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 53%
of his career total (17). His list of UFC victims: Smith,
Ion
Cutelaba (twice),
Dalcha
Lungiambula and
Marcin
Prachnio. Ankalaev owns eight other wins by decision (47%). 32:
Rounds completed by Ankalaev as a professional mixed martial
artist. He has gone the distance on eight different occasions and
carries a perfect 8-0 record in those bouts. 2: Sub-minute finishes
on the Ankalaev resume. He struck
Lloyd
Marshbanks into submission in 15 seconds at a World Fighting
Championship Akhmat show on April 9, 2016 and dispatched Cutelaba
with head kicks and follow-up punches in 38 seconds at UFC Fight
Night 169 on Feb. 29, 2020. .702: Cumulative winning percentage
among the eight men—Smith, Cutelaba (twice), Lungiambula, Prachnio,
Santos,
Volkan
Oezdemir,
Nikita
Krylov and
Klidson
Abreu—Ankalaev has beaten as a member of the UFC roster. They
boast a combined record of 163-69-1.