Ankalaev (18-1-1) has had an unusual 18 months. Ankalaev left UFC 282 empty-handed after drawing Jan Blachowicz in a vacant UFC light heavyweight title fight in December 2022. His rebound against Walker at UFC 294 in October ended via no-contest after Ankalaev hit his downed opponent with a knee. Ankalaev has become a bit of an afterthought in the 205-pound title race without accruing a loss, but he is partly to blame. He struck Walker with an egregious illegal blow after all. Ankalaev dismissed Walker's allegations that it was intentional, chalking it up to poor timing while questioning Walker's toughness.