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Glover Teixeira and Jamahal Hill will square off for the vacant light heavyweight championship at UFC 283, UFC President Dana White confirmed.
After UFC 282's main event culminated in a split draw, White labeled the vacant light heavyweight title fight between Jan Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev "awful" and that the title contenders had only themselves to complain about.
“What are you going to do?” White asked incredulously. “I think the main event was terrible. What are you going to do?”
On January 21, UFC 283 will take place at Rio de Janeiro's Jeunesse Arena. The main fight on Saturday night is hyped as a quadrilogy between champion Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno. Those intentions undoubtedly changed following UFC 282.
After the UFC 282 main event, Hill suggested a different matchup and asked White to schedule him against top light heavyweight and UFC analyst Anthony Smith.
But in a short span, Hill won a lottery as he was announced to face the former champion by White. Hill's response to the news was succinct but obvious. To commemorate the news, he created a promo.
Teixeira attempted to enter the octagon following the match to meet the victor, but he was unable to be reached for comment. Teixeira watched UFC 282 from the cage. Jiri Prochazka, the Czech champion, was supposed to compete for the title against the former champion from Brazil, but Prochazka withdrew after suffering a serious shoulder injury.
Teixeira said that the organization rejected his desire to challenge the Dagestani fighter at UFC 283 one month after he was allowed to do so.
Teixeira will now fulfill his ambition on a timeframe, but against a different foe. Hill has won three straight matches, including one in which he stopped former championship challenger Thiago Santos. Teixeira, who lost the championship to Prochazka through submission in the fifth round, has another opportunity to reclaim it.