John Blachowicz was still trying to process what happened in his fight with Magomed Ankalaev After the judges marked the fight as a draw when the UFC color commentator Joe Rogan approached them both for an interview.
As his head is still spinning and overwhelmed with emotion after essentially failing in his bid to reclaim the light heavyweight title at UFC 282Blachowicz told Rogan he didn’t feel like he won – but he still needed to watch the fight again to understand how it all went.
Now that he’s had time to look back on the fight and reflect, Blachowicz admits he wasn’t happy with how everything was handled in the cage, especially as he was still trying to clear himself. the lead after losing the fifth round in an impromptu title fight that came together days earlier.
“I watched this fight many times and listened to a lot of opinions about this fight and for me, what I said after the fight to give the belt to Ankalaev, I said that because I was stuck in the [fifth] round,” Blachowicz explained while speaking to MMA Fighting. “All that crossed my mind was [fifth] round. I completely forgot the rest of the fight.
“Joe Rogan, when he walked into the octagon, he told him I lost the fight. That’s what I thought. He made a mistake saying something like that to me after the fight. Because anyone who thinks i lost the fight just watch the last round For me a draw is a fair decision and seriously i think i was closer to winning the fight than Ankalaev. kick more and it would be over, a TKO or if I would have defended his takedowns in the [fifth] round, stay on your feet a little longer, the fight would be mine. I might be disappointed with [judges] but I’m not because I see the fight… I watched the fight many times, a draw for me is fair.
When the final decision was made, judge Mike Bell had given Blachowicz the fight with a score of 48-47 with him winning the first three rounds while judge Sal D’Amato had it exactly the same except that he scored the fifth round as a 10-8 for Ankalaev.
This ultimately led to a 47-47 scorecard and with judge Derek Cleary giving the fight to Ankalaev, the result was a draw.
In the aftermath, Blachowicz raised Ankalaev’s hand, leading Rogan to ask him if he thought the fight should have gone to the Russian. Blachowicz replied that he did not feel victorious but also could not say for sure that he had lost.
Rogan then said “you are a very honorable man, the way you did this to me makes it look like you lost that decision.” Then addressing Ankalaev moments later, Rogan added “we thought you won the fight – when [Daniel Cormier] and me at the end of the fight, we thought that you had done enough, especially in the last rounds, you used your grappling.
Looking back now, Blachowicz thinks a draw was a fair decision, but he didn’t appreciate Rogan injecting his opinion as he was still trying to figure out what just happened.
“Joe Rogan, he shouldn’t say something like that to me after the fight,” Blachowicz said. “I was stuck in the last round and then Joe Rogan said ‘it was a good fight, but to me you lost the fight. “”After the fight, when I go into the locker room and start talking to a lot of people backstage from different teams, they’re like ‘don’t say you lost the fight, you didn’t lose this fight, one round is OK’ but maybe you won the fight. So don’t say it.
“I said OK, maybe I think a little badly about the fight and then I start remembering the first three rounds. It looks different, not like the last lap. When they said draw it was a weird situation because I can’t be happy but I can’t feel bad about myself either. ‘Cause I didn’t win but neither did I [lose]. I feel a bit empty inside.
As much as he wishes he walked away with the UFC light heavyweight title that night, Blachowicz isn’t necessarily arguing he deserved the win, but he doesn’t see how Ankalaev feels like either. if he had been robbed in the decision.
That’s why I think the draw is fair. It’s a fair decision for both of us,” Blachowicz said. “I should be more disappointed. Because I was closer to winning the fight, not Ankalaev.
But it is what it is. What can I do? Nothing. Now that’s just history. I gotta focus on the fight, what’s good, what [went wrong], it’s obvious and that’s it. It’s history now.
In his own post-fight interview, Ankalaev said News from Dagestan that he actually endured “the worst training camp” of his life before UFC 282 while stating he had “a lot of injuries” but still felt like he “had some done enough to raise your hand”.
Nothing about the fight was ideal for either contender, especially since Blachowicz and Ankalaev were both preparing for three rounds before being traded into a title fight on a notice of only two weeks after the former champion. Jiri Prochazka relinquished the belt following a serious shoulder injury.
For his part, Blachowicz wishes things had been different, but he sticks to his performance in the cage that night.
It angers him that Ankalaev doesn’t do the same.
Excuses. I hate it when someone says it like that,” Blachowicz said of Ankalaev. It pisses me off when someone uses excuses. I never said my camp was bad, I have injuries or anything like that. If you feel bad, stay home, drink tea with honey and relax. If you go into battle, don’t apologize. It just shows your weakness and that’s it.
“Everyone said I was going to lose the fight, the bookmakers and everyone thinks he’s going to knock me out and finish me in the first round but I almost won the fight. Now he’s looking for excuses, why he wasn’t so good in the fight. Why? Because I was very good in that fight. Because I don’t let him do what he always does in the fight. That was the reason. Now , he says ‘I was hurt, my side was bad.’ Bulls***. I don’t believe it. It’s a weakness. That’s it.”
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