One UFC legend is not hiding his doubt about Alex Pereira’s ability to overcome Magomed Ankalaev’s arsenal.
Pereira is gearing up for his chance at redemption and to become a two-time light heavyweight champion after having his reign at 205 pounds ended earlier this year.
Ankalaev unseated Pereira at UFC 313, winning a decision at T-Mobile Arena to bring an end to a period of brutal dominance in the division for ‘Poatan’.
After months of uncertainty about the Brazilian’s status and talk of Pereira possibly moving to heavyweight, the rematch was recently confirmed. Ankalaev will defend his title against Pereira at UFC 320 in Las Vegas on October 4.
According to one ex-title challenger, the result is already a foregone conclusion.
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Chael Sonnen is extremely confident in predicting Magomed Ankalaev to beat Alex Pereira again
During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, former middleweight and light heavyweight UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen reacted to Dana White’s latest round of high-profile fight announcements.
On the next championship clash in one of his former divisions, ‘The Bad Guy’ dismissed any suggestion that Pereira could return to the throne at UFC 320. Sonnen did not see anything from the Brazilian in his first fight with Ankalaev to suggest he can make the necessary adjustments to hand the Russian his first loss in 15 fights.
“When Alex finally goes for triple-champ status, that in and of itself is going to be a big deal,” Sonnen said.
“I liked the idea of Alex vs. Tom (Aspinall) right now…Alex is not gonna beat Ankalaev. This is a statement of fact.
“They have already fought. There was nothing within that contest that would lead you to believe if we did it again, we are gonna change outcomes,” Sonnen added.
Alex Pereira insists he has fought tougher opponents than Magomed Ankalaev
It does not need saying that Pereira would absolutely disagree with Sonnen’s claim.
As well as being confident in his chances of getting revenge on the champion, Pereira says he’s faced tougher opposition than Ankalaev during his MMA career.
“I’ve definitely fought tougher opponents,” Pereira told The Schmo. “The situation itself on that day (UFC 313), the circumstances, made him a hard opponent.
“But I’ve definitely fought people way harder than him.”