Magomed Ankalaev returns home to Dagestan after UFC 282 draw

UFC light heavyweight fighter Magomed Ankalaev returned home to the Republic of Dagestan for the first time after his UFC 282 match against Jan Blachowicz. The former champions’ fight ended in a draw last week.

Despite the result, hundred of Dagestan’s crowd greeted and welcomed Ankalaev at the local airport. Greeted like a champion, Ankalaev gave speeches about his achievement as Dagestan’s fighter.

“I am genuinely happy and I would like to thank everyone who has come, who supported me, who was worried in this late hour. I am heartily glad,” Ankalaev said.

When asked about the UFC 282 fight, Ankalaev explained that he did enough for getting the victory, although the judges decided it ended in a split draw.

The Ankalaev-Blachowicz matchup was intended for the vacant title of light heavyweight. Many hoped that Ankalaev could bring the UFC 282’s title back to the Dagestan. Ankalaev admitted that he was disappointed with the draw and said that he deserved the win. After all, the media said the draw was a controversial one.

Prior to this matchup, the 30-year-old was on a nine-fight winning streak, including against Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos. As a title contender, Ankalaev went to the UFC 282 without any losses since March 2018 in his first UFC campaign. In that fight, he got beaten by Paul Craig during the last five seconds of the third round despite dominating the fight and hurting Craig in the first round.

Before making his campaign at UFC, Ankalaev was a Russian and World champion in amateur MMA. He was also awarded the 2015 Mixed Martial Artist of Russia given by the Russian MMA federation. Throughout his MMA career, he recorded 17 wins, one draw, and lost once.

Dagestan is known for its strong fighters. This is the same place where Khabib Nurmagomedov and current UFC Lightweight title holder Islam Makhacev originated from.

For the upcoming fight, the UFC would feature another vacant title fight between Jamahal Hill and Glover Teixeira for UFC 283. Therefore, Ankalaev will have to wait for another title fight in the meantime.