Alex Pereira is now only a few weeks out from his first title defense of 2025, hoping to replicate his 2024 fortunes that saw him pick up Fighter of the Year.
Throughout 2024, Alex Pereira defended his title the most of any champion in the UFC, totting up three wins and becoming the promotion’s biggest star in the process.
At UFC 313 on March 8, ‘Poatan’ will take on the toughest test of his MMA career thus far when he clashes with Magomed Ankalaev.
Ahead of his fight, Pereira has received criticism from Daniel Cormier as he took time out of his fight camp to travel to Australia to corner Sean Strickland for his middleweight title fight against Dricus Du Plessis.
Magomed Ankalaev sends warning following Pereira training video
After proving to ‘DC’ that he is still in training camp and isn’t just completing side quests, the 37-year-old Brazilian champion shared a video of him and his head coach, Glover Teixeira drilling takedown defenses outside in the snow.
Ankalaev is widely regarded as Pereira’s toughest test to date because of his wrestling ability and tendency to control fights with his cage pressure.
However, Ankalaev has claimed he will outstrike Pereira, stating that the Brazilian’s striking is overrated, leading to questions about whether he will even utilize his wrestling advantage.
In response to Pereira’s training video in the snow, the Russian contender sent a chilling warning message to the champion.
“I hope you’re ready to do this for 25 minutes,” Ankalaev said on X.
Can Alex Pereira nullify Magomed Ankalaev’s wrestling in UFC 313 main event?
During his UFC tenure so far, Pereira has only been taken down nine times with Jan Blachowicz being the only fighter he has fought that has attempted to out-wrestle him.
Although Ankalaev has an extremely solid wrestling base, it isn’t his bread and butter and he averages fewer takedowns per 15 minutes than Blachowicz.
And not only that but the Russian only has a successful takedown percentage rate of 31%, compared to Blachowicz’s 50%.
Having held the Pole off for the majority of their 15-minute fight, Pereira will likely fancy his chances at holding off Ankalaev too.