Alex Pereira appears to be unfazed by what happened in Abu Dhabi tonight as he took in F1 Racing in Mexico.
The light-heavyweight champion was called out by long-time rival Magomed Ankalaev after he defeated Aleksandr Rakic at UFC 308 on Saturday night. But it seems that Pereira may not have even been watching as he took in the Mexican Grand Prix as part of a sponsored trip.
He has been posting with some regularity after the fight and subsequent callout, but has yet to address what was said. It remains to be seen if he even saw the fight, which saw Ankalaev take the victory by unanimous decision.
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Magomed Ankalaev consolidated spot as top contender with UFC 308 win
Before he was even booked to face Rakic on Saturday night, it appeared that Ankalaev was the clear top contender at light-heavyweight for Alex Pereira’s world title. He and Rakic were the only two top five fighters whom the Brazilian hadn’t beaten at least once, and he was higher up the list.
However, he was signed up for this potential banana skin while Pereira took on number eight contender Khalil Rountree Jr instead at UFC 307 a few weeks prior. It led to Ankalaev feeling that he was being forced to face the Austrian in an effort to give him a loss and slow his pursuit of the gold.
He made sure not to leave that option available, though, dominating proceedings over three rounds to now surely book his spot in the next world title defence. His 13-fight unbeaten run is the longest in divisional history after the legendary Jon Jones.
And Dana White admitted that he has to be next for Pereira during his post-fight press conference. The UFC CEO told the gathered media “I would have to say yes,” when asked if Ankalaev is the only contender at this point.
Magomed Ankalaev calls out Alex Pereira after UFC 308 extends unbeaten run
The Russian contender shares one thing in common with Pereira; an inability to speak English. This caused him some trouble in cutting a convincing promo after the fight, but he managed to sneak a few words in during his effort at calling for the title fight.
First speaking through a translator, Ankalaev told Daniel Cormier in his post-fight interview: “I think I have done everything to deserve the next title shot. I’d like to talk to Alex and I’d like to tell him ‘hey, stop running away from me’. We should fight, that’s what everybody wants to see.”
And Cormier then reminded him of an English lesson they had engaged in a few days prior during an interview. With some help from his translator, Ankalaev managed to get out a brief message in English, telling Pereira: “Alex, stop running away from me.”
Alex Pereira trolled by fans as he posts for the first time after Magomed Ankalaev callout
After the fight finished, Pereira has not been quiet on social media, although not with what the fans are looking for in his posts. He has been taking in the action at the Mexican Grand Prix, and continued to post, seemingly oblivious to what was happening in Abu Dhabi.
He has shared a number of videos of the cars and even a photo of himself watching the races with the caption “Qualifying insights”. However, fans are not letting him off the hook as the comments section is blowing up under his latest main block post on Instagram.
The top comment at the time of writing is simply a GIF showing Ankalaev walking out to a fight, with a number of other messages mocking him. “Magomad said stop running away from me,” a number of followers wrote.
And one really took aim at the Brazilian, writing: “Ankalaev has won yet another, now that’s 11 wins in a row, what will be his excuse for running away from him?” Another claimed that Ankalaev is “the real light-heavyweight champion.”
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