Just a matter of weeks after winning the UFC light heavyweight title against Alex Pereira, Magomed Ankalaev could already have his first title defense set.
At UFC 313 at the beginning of March, Magomed Ankalaev successfully dethroned Alex Pereira to become the new light heavyweight title, putting an end to one of the most exciting reigns in the promotion’s history.
Not long after the event, Ankalaev revealed that he was already in negotiations with the promotion for an immediate rematch against Alex Pereira.
Ahead of their huge rematch, Pereira admitted that he will need to make ‘some adjustments’ after putting on one of his worst performances so far in the UFC.
Magomed Ankalaev names date for Pereira rematch
Earlier this week, Magomed Ankalaev claimed that he already has the date for his rematch, which garnered a reaction from Pereira.
Now, though, the Russian champion has gone one step further by revealing the month that he will likely rematch ‘Poatan’, adding in one key request.
“August, but please #novaseline,” Ankalaev stated in a post on X.
After their first meeting at UFC 313, Ankalaev’s coach accused Pereira of using grease to prevent being taken down during the fight, as the Russian didn’t land a single takedown from 12 attempts.
Despite that, the 32-year-old dominated the fight on the feet, with Pereira alarmingly only landing 11 head strikes throughout the entire fight.
Magomed Ankalaev invites Jon Jones back down to light heavyweight
Since winning the 205lb title, Ankalaev has been extremely active on social media, calling out several fighters.
One of which is current UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones. Of course, ‘Bones’ once reigned over the light heavyweight division before moving up to heavyweight.
The champion has been delaying a title unification fight against interim champion, Tom Aspinall, which for some bizarre reason, has irked Ankalaev.
And with that, the Russian has invited Jones back down to 205lbs to fight him.
“Jonny chicken Bones don’t want to fight big Tom, come back to light heavyweight division and fight big Ank, stop running,” Ankalaev bizarrely stated in a now deleted post on X.