Six weeks out from their light heavyweight title fight, the ‘war of words’ between Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira is already reaching boiling point.
After months, if not years, of calling out the popular KO artist; Magomed Ankalaev will finally get the chance to fight ‘Poatan’ for championship gold in the main event of UFC 313.
It’s going to be an intense build-up to that light heavyweight title clash, with the Russian having repeatedly accused Alex Pereira of ducking him as the number one contender.
Magomed Ankalaev accuses Alex Pereira of lying about incoming title fight
Speaking to Ariel Helwani earlier this week, UFC light heavyweight superstar Alex Pereira claimed that he was the one who pushed the promotion to make the Ankalaev fight for March 8.
“[Ankalaev] says the company tells me what to do, but I’m the one that asked for the fight,” stated the popular Brazilian, adding “I’m the one that came there and said I want to fight Ankalaev now.”
Those comments certainly haven’t sat well with the 20-1-1 Russian, who took to social media to slam Pereira as he repeated Khabib Nurmagomedov’s legendary line.
“This is number one bull**** he tweeted a month ago. He’s fighting someone else. The UFC told him he’s fighting me now he wanna make it like he wanted March 8 you’ll get it.”
Ankalaev followed that post up with, “Don’t lie you didn’t ask for me, it was a dead-end street,” before sending an ominous warning to the popular Brazilian: “I’m gonna to eat your heart.”
UFC 313 will represent the second title fight of Ankalaev’s career, having gone to a draw against Jan Blachowicz in December 2022.
Since that bout, he had a No Contest against Johnny Walker, scored a KO win over the flashy Brazilian in their rematch a few months later, and most recently, earned a unanimous decision win over Aleksandar Rakic.
Pereira has stated that he’d like to emulate his 2024 title run with three more championship bouts in 2025; ‘Poatan’ dispatched Jiri Prochazka, Jamahal Hill, and Khalil Rountree Jr en route to winning UFC 2024 ‘Fighter of the Year’.
Alex Pereira vs Magomed Ankalaev headlines a solid UFC 313 card
Alex Pereira vs Magomed Ankalaev is the cherry on top of the UFC 313 cake; with that event scheduled for Saturday, March 8 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Fans can look forward to pure, unadulterated violence in the co-main event when Dan Hooker and Justin Gaethje throwdown in what’s expected to be a potential ‘Fight of the Year’ contender.
Despite not being a title fight, that lightweight bout has been upped to five rounds with ‘The Hangman’ justifying the move by teasing, “I think the UFC wants someone to die.”
The only other main card bout that’s been announced for UFC 313 is a strawweight matchup between Amanda Lemos and Iasmin Lucindo – with the following prelims fights also confirmed.
- Mairon Santos vs Francis Marshall
- Alex Morono vs Carlos Leal
- Brunno Ferreira vs Armen Petrosyan
- Chris Gutierrez vs Jean Matsumoto
- Djorden Santos vs Ozzy Diaz
There are also reports that Bobby Green vs Mauricio Ruffy, as well as Bruno Silva vs Joshua Van, have also been added to the card; but are yet to be officially announced by the promotion.