Report: Former champ Blachowicz to face Ankalaev at UFC 282

A light heavyweight bout that may have big title implications has been added to the final UFC pay-per-view of the year.

Former champion Jan Blachowicz will fight Magomed Ankalaev on Dec. 10 at UFC 282, sources told ESPN's Brett Okamoto.

Blachowicz, 39, is coming off a TKO win against Aleksandar Rakic in May. He surrendered his title to Glover Teixeira in October 2021 after successfully defending it against middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in March 2021.

Ankalaev defeated his last nine opponents after losing to Paul Craig by submission in his UFC debut in 2018. The 30-year-old Ankalaev most recently beat Anthony Smith via TKO at UFC 277 in July.

The UFC has yet to announce a main event for UFC 282, which will take place in Las Vegas.

Current light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka is expected to defend his title against Teixeira in a rematch, though a date hasn't been revealed yet, according to Okamoto. The two fighters reportedly had a verbal agreement in August to fight at UFC 282.