UFC 282 is shaping up to be one of the deepest cards of 2022, with fifteen fights currently scheduled for the event and will be headlined by Jiri Prochazka vs Glover Texeira in a rematch for the UFC Light Heavyweight championship.

The co-main event will see Jan Blachowicz vs Magomed Ankalaev in a fight that will likely determine who is next in line for a shot at the winner of the main event for the title in early to mid 2023.

Below those two light heavyweight fights there are three more that should all be exciting with Paddy Pimblett vs Jared Gordon, Darren Till vs Dricus Du Plessis, and Bryce Mitchell vs Ilia Topuria filling out the main card.

It’s always entertaining when Paddy the Baddy is on the lineup, but this will be his toughest competition so far in the UFC and will likely determine if his next fight will be vs a ranked opponent.

Darren Till is looking to return from a rough stretch of cancellations and multiple injuries and will have his hands full against Du Plessis, who is looking to continue climbing through the UFC middleweight ranks with another big win.

Bryce Mitchell was actually supposed to headline UFC Vegas 64 against Movsar Evloev, but was removed from the lineup when the matchmakers couldn’t find him a short notice opponent after Evloev dropped out of the fight due to injury.

Mitchell will now be taking on Topuria, who is another dangerous featherweight with eyes on a future title shot. The winner of this fight will almost certainly be ranked in the Top 5 at featherweight and within range of a late 2023 title shot with another win.

While the news came as a surprise to some members of the MMA community, it has been recently confirmed that Jon Jones will not be fighting Stipe Miocic or anyone else at UFC 282.

I previously wrote why I thought Jon Jones would not be fighting at UFC 282, and not surprisingly, his debut at heavyweight will have to wait until another UFC event (likely March at the earliest).

If you saw our early preview for UFC 282, you will have noticed that DWCS star Bo Nickal is no longer scheduled for this event and had to postpone his UFC debut due to injury.

With Nickal no longer on the card, the UFC added another huge name from this season of Dana White’s Contenders Series: now 18-year-old phenom Raul Rojas Jr (he competed on DWCS and was signed at the age of 17 and is the youngest person the promotion has signed to a contract).

Rojas Jr will be making his debut against Jay Perrin in what should be an entertaining fight to determine if Rojas Jr is actually ready for the biggest stage at such a young age and so early into his career.

There are three other fighters who were signed from this season of DWCS who are also scheduled to be fighting on this card as of now: Erik Silva, Vinicius Salvador, and Cameron Saaiman.

UFC 282 is honestly pretty high on the list for the most stacked UFC cards on paper for 2022 and has the potential to end up being one of the best events of the year with so many exciting fights.

Which fights are you most excited for out of the 15 currently scheduled for UFC 282? Will there be a new UFC Light Heavyweight champion heading into 2023 or will Jiri Prochazka continue his reign of terror in the division? Let us know your thoughts below!

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