Ahead of their main event this coming weekend at UFC 313, the rivalry between Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev is seemingly hotting up.
Alex Pereira has the chance to break Jon Jones’ record for the least amount of days between four title defenses in the light heavyweight division with a win over Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 this Saturday.
Ahead of his fourth 205lb title defense, Pereira has received some criticism for how he has been preparing for potentially his toughest opponent to date.
Despite that, Pereira has offered Ankalaev a $200,000 bet ahead of their fight, which has seemingly triggered Ankalaev who issued a response.
Alex Pereira claims Magomed Ankalaev will use Ramadan as his excuse for losing
A big talking point ahead of this huge title fight has been that Ankalaev will be fighting during Ramadan and although the majority of his camp has been outside of Ramadan, his final weight cut comes during it.
The Russian will be the only Muslim fighter to compete for a UFC title during Ramadan and he has recently claimed that it will give him more power and strength for his fight against Pereira.
Ankalaev has already spoken about the potential of an immediate rematch against ‘Poatan’, however, the champion has made a claim.
“With all due respect, I don’t involve religion. I’m a guy who knows how to respect, I know how far I can speak. I think a lot before speaking,” Pereira began to explain in an interview with agfight.
“But I think he’s using this (Ramadan) as an excuse. If something happens, it’s like when he bet, ‘Oh, I can’t because of my religion.’ Or, ‘I lost because I couldn’t recover very well and I trained too weak.’
“But today I went to get my lunch boxes, the UFC lunch boxes, and there were two bags with several lunch boxes with his name on them, all with a set time. He’s not doing that (fasting). He’s deceiving people and telling them so he can have an excuse later,” Pereira continued to claim.
Ankalaev claimed Pereira attends UFC events for ‘free alcohol’
When he doesn’t have a title defense booked, the 37-year-old champion enjoys his time off by attending the fights and meeting with the fans.
Earlier this year, Pereira attended UFC 311 and was targeted by Ankalaev who claimed he only goes to UFC events for ‘free alcohol’ and ‘camera time’.
Pereira has a well-documented history with alcohol and prior to his fighting career he was a struggling alcoholic.
During one of the last training sessions of his camp, Pereira sent his teammates an inspirational message, touching on how he changed his life through training combat sports.