Newly minted UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev was keen to remind Jon Jones of his past controversies, after ‘Bones’ gloated in light of Alex Pereira losing his belt at UFC 313.
Jones took to Instagram after Pereira’s loss at UFC 313 to brag about his title defence record. Formerly the light heavyweight king, Jones accrued 11 light heavyweight defences, and now one heavyweight defence, marred only by vacating his belts twice due to cheating and being arrested.
Jones remarked ‘small flex,’ about having more title defences than every other male champion combined, which Ankalaev took umbrage to.
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Magomed Ankalaev slams ‘big cheater’ Jon Jones for mocking ‘clean’ UFC champions
Responding to Jones’ comments in a post on X on March 10, Ankalaev—or his manager running his account—sent a fiery message to the controversial champion.
“Yes, but all these champions are clean he’s [Jones] a big cheater we all know this,” Ankalaev wrote.
Jones is often snubbed from GOAT conversations due to his controversies inside and outside the Octagon. He was convicted of a hit-and-run incident in 2015, where he was stripped of his title and suspended. He was suspended and stripped of his interim title in 2016 after a potential anti-doping violation, and then again in 2017 after failing his drug test against Daniel Cormier in their rematch.
Magomed Ankalaev would consider fighting at heavyweight
An Ankalaev vs. Jones fight isn’t off the cards, as Ankalaev registered his interest in fighting at heavyweight. Before this, however, Ankalaev wants to silence any doubters with an Alex Pereira rematch.
“I think now we need to close the questions in this division. If they want a rematch we can do that but there are other guys too. I want to close the questions here and then I think we can make big fights at heavyweight.”
Since Pereira did a good job cleaning out his division, plenty of fresh matchups will be made with Ankalaev, including: Jiri Prochazka, Khalil Rountree Jr. and the winner of Carlos Ulberg vs. Jan Blachowicz.