There is a lot riding on a UFC 308 win for Magomed Ankalaev and he must do so in exciting fashion to secure himself the next light heavyweight title shot against Alex Pereira.
Despite already deserving a light heavyweight title fight against Alex Pereira, Magomed Ankalaev was surprisingly matched up against Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308.
With ‘Poatan’s’ starpower growing significantly, the promotion is seemingly feeding him more favorable matchups to protect his status as champion.
Magomed Ankalaev claims Dana White has given him an ultimatum for his UFC 308 fight
The Russian has become far more vocal over the past year as he feels hard done by that he hasn’t been afforded another title shot considering his 12-fight undefeated streak.
Ankalaev has also claimed that UFC CEO Dana White has told him that his performance this coming Saturday must be an exciting one to earn a title shot, as just winning simply won’t grant him a fight against Pereira.
“We decided that we have to be much more vocal than we were before because it’s been two years that I’ve been waiting for a title fight so now we figured that if people are throwing some kind of comment towards me, we have to come back,” Ankalaev said at the UFC 308 media day.
“It’s up to the UFC (whether I fight for the title), I was pretty much told that with this win, I’m next in line for the title so that’s what I hope is going to happen… It isn’t a condition that it’s a finish and a title (shot), I just was told by Dana that it has to be a good fight and I have to show myself well and then I’ll get a title shot,” Ankalaev continued.
- MENTAL STRUGGLES: ‘I am human too’… Khamzat Chimaev opens up about suffering mental health problems because of recent career setbacks
Ankalaev claims Aleksandar Rakic is the toughest fight at light heavyweight
Although Rakic is coming off a loss to Jiri Prochazka at UFC 300 this past April, Ankalaev believes the Austrian is the toughest test in the light heavyweight division because of how well-rounded he is.
“It’s not like he’s that tough but the fact is he is well-rounded. He does have striking, he does have the ground game, right, when it comes to the champion he’s just got the strikes, right and we know those strikes and we haven’t seen him wrestle ever,” Ankalaev claimed.
Despite the majority of the fans believing that Ankalaev will finally earn a title shot this Saturday, ‘Rocket’ is hoping to snatch the title shot away from the Russian with a big bounce-back win of his own.
- MORE AGGRESSION: Ilia Topuria surprisingly names an opponent he believes is more dangerous than Max Holloway as he vows to be ‘super aggressive’ at UFC 308