Earlier today it was announced that a 12th match is being added to the UFC 282 lineup that’s currently headlined by Jiri Prochazka vs Glover Teixeira II and will be held in Las Vegas on December 10th.
First reported by MMA Junkie, Alexander Gustafsson vs Ovince St Preux is the newest addition to the card, which is beginning to fill up at this point, but still likely to see one or two more late additions.
The headliner for the event, the highly anticipated rematch between Prochazka and Teixeira for the UFC Light Heavyweight title should definitely be a fun fight. Prochazka snatched victory from the jaws of defeat back in June with a stunning late submission win to secure the title.
Beyond the championship fight at the top of the card, UFC 282 is shaping up pretty nicely for the most part, but it isn’t exactly loaded with household names like the UFC 280 and UFC 281 lineups were. Nonetheless, there is plenty to look forward to when it comes to this event.
Here are some early thoughts and notes that I have when it comes to UFC 282:
While the first fight between Prochazka and Teixeira almost went the full 25-minute distance until Jiri’s stunning submission in the final seconds, I would be absolutely shocked if this rematch goes nearly that long. Both have extremely high finishing rates, and now that they have seen what the other has to offer inside the octagon, I think these two will be trying much harder to find a stoppage this time around and punctuate this rivalry.
Darren Till looks to make his return from an extended rough stretch that has seen him lose consecutive fights with five cancellations mixed in since his last win back in 2019. The matchmakers didn’t give him an easy opponent to face in his attempt to bounce back, as Dricus Du Plessis is one of the most dangerous fighters currently in the middleweight division. This one has potential to be extremely fun and I’ll be crossing my fingers that Till’s recent bad luck with cancellations and injuries is behind him.
Bo Nickal makes his UFC “PPV” debut (the quotes are being used since he is currently listed in the early portion of the prelims, however, I would be stunned if he isn’t on the bottom of the main PPV card or in the featured prelim once the lineup fully shapes up). Jamie Pickett has had a rough start to his UFC career so far, and this is going to be an extremely tough spot for him to attempt to turn things around. I feel like this another matchup for Nickal that has potentially been booked in his favor, but we’ll see if he can actually follow through and continue the torrid start to his MMA career.
Rozenstruik vs Daukaus should be a fun matchup between high-level UFC heavyweights. Both fighters pack extremely powerful punching power and have the ability to turn an opponent out in an instant, so I think this one should be a pretty fun one. Both fighters enter on two fight losing streaks so expect them both to give their best efforts to end their respective skids.
Edmen Shahbasyan looks to end his recent freefall down the ranks at middleweight after losing three straight fights following an 11-0 start to his career. Lungiambula won’t be an easy opponent to get back on track, but if Shahbasyan can’t stop this losing skid his time in the UFC could be nearing an end. He will be returning from a near year-long layoff for this fight, so we’ll see if he’s improved his overall game during that time.
There are currently four fighters on the UFC 282 card that were on the most recent season of Dana White’s Contenders Series (Nickal, Silva, Salvador, and Saaiman). I wouldn’t be surprised if another fighter or two is added to the card in a prelim matchup since the UFC will definitely be marketing the debut of Nickal.
With only 12 fights currently booked for the event, there’s room for a couple of additions still. It should be noted that there currently isn’t a women’s fight scheduled for the card, so that could still likely change. Also, the UFC is running out of time to get Jon Jones on a PPV event in front of a US crowd until likely April at the earliest, so it’s entirely possible (yet unlikely) that he could be added to this event in a fight against Stipe Miocic (Francis Ngannou probably would not be ready in time for the event to face Jones).
Most likely, the late additions to the card will likely be fights that will be added to the prelims, so I wouldn’t expect any more “household” names to be announced for the event. I could see one of the women signed on the most recent season of DWCS potentially being added to the card.
Which fight are you most excited about for UFC 282? If you could add any more matches to the event, who would you book? Let us know in the poll and comment section down below!
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