Magomed Ankalaev could have the location for his likely title rematch against Alex Pereira as talks continue.
Magomed Ankalaev shocked the world at UFC 313 when he successfully dethroned Alex Pereira to become the new UFC light heavyweight champion.
Immediately after the fight, Ankalaev learned that he would likely be booked for an immediate rematch after Dana White’s comments, giving Alex Pereira hope at redemption.
Since then, negotiations for the rematch have kicked off, and the Russian champion stated that he was targeting a return in August.
Ankalaev teases Chicago as location for Pereira rematch
Following their clash at UFC 313, icon Joe Rogan claimed that Pereira fought the fight with a broken hand and norovirus, potentially explaining his extremely lacklustre performance.
Although talks seemed to have potentially stalled due to Pereira’s injury revelation, Ankalaev teased this Wednesday that he has the location for their rematch.
“Who likes deep-dish pizza?” Ankalaev questioned in a post on X.
Chicago is globally known for specializing in deep-dish pizza, and the last time the promotion landed in ‘The Windy City’ was in 2019 when Henry Cejudo took on Marlon Moraes in the UFC 238 main event.
“One month ago, I broke a lot of hearts, in August Big Ank is here to dunk Chicago Bulls style,” he continued.
The UFC fanbase has been calling for the promotion to return to Chicago, and it seemed likely that when they did, Belal Muhammad may potentially headline the card, having been born in Chicago.
Belal Muhammad unlikely to compete on the card
With Muhammad being the only Chicago-born champion in the promotion, fans likely anticipated his inclusion on any Illinois-based event.
Despite that, he is extremely unlikely to make the three-month turnaround as he is already scheduled to defend his welterweight title against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 315 in May.
Depending on the result of his first title defense, Muhammad is likely to take at least six months off if he continues his trend of how active he is.