UFC 291 will be taking place this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah live from The Delta Center. The five-bout main card gets started at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 29, and will be highlighted by a lightweight bout between Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje for the ceremonial “BMF” championship.
The co-main event is a light heavyweight title eliminator between former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz and former middleweight champion Alex Pereira. It’s expected that the winner of this bout will receive a title shot against returning former champion Jiri Prochazka at the end of the year or in early 2024.
Blachowicz (29-9-1) last fought Magomed Ankaleav for the vacant light heavyweight title at UFC 282. The match ended in a split draw with most observers thinking Ankalaev took the bout and Blachowicz admitting that Ankaleav should have been declared the winner. Ankaleav won the final round 10-8 on all three scorecards by keeping Blachowicz on the ground.
Blachowicz landed 47 percent of his significant strikes (55-of-117), but Ankalaev landed 23 more significant strikes and 112 more total strikers with over 11 minutes of control time.
It was a controversial decision and with Ankalaev outlanding Blachowicz in four of the five rounds, it was difficult to explain the judge’s decision. The title remained vacant with Jamahal Hill and Glover Teixeira fighting for it at UFC 283.
Blachowicz and Pereira are both -110 at DraftKings Sportsbook in this fight.