Magomed Ankalaev says Alex Pereira should be ‘grateful’, not hateful ahead of their rematch.
It’s been six months since Ankalaev took the light heavyweight title from Pereira, defeating him by unanimous decision at UFC 313.
Previously undefeated in the division and one of the biggest stars in the sport today, Alex Pereira gets an immediate rematch with Ankalaev in the main event of UFC 320 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
While there isn’t a ton of buzz around the upcoming title fight, Pereira is definitely doing his part to promote, calling Ankalaev a ‘dogs— champion’ in his latest YouTube video.
Pereira claimed Ankalaev hid from him while they were both at the UFC Performance Institute earlier this week and his opponent isn’t having any of it.
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Magomed Ankalaev tells off ‘clown’ Alex Pereira for trash talking
Days out from fight week, Dagestan’s Magomed Ankalaev has responded to his rival’s latest comments.
“This clown who I’m fighting said I’m hiding from him, I’m giving him a rematch and he should be very grateful,” Ankalaev said of Pereira on X.
“I whooped him for 5 rounds and I did everything I wanted to him during the fight.
“Let’s focus on fighting and not trash talking,” the champion added.
Right after, Ankalaev continued to talk his own trash at ‘Poatan’.
“This guy has been knocked out 3 times in his career, I never been knocked down,” Ankalaev wrote on X.
“This time I will give him his 4th knockout, end of the story…”
“Don’t talk too much on the way to the tire shop after this fight,” said Ankalaev.
Only one man has knocked out Alex Pereira in the UFC
Two of Pereira’s TKO losses have come in the kickboxing ring, the last one coming in 2016.
Pereira has been knocked out before in MMA, but only once, at the hands of longtime rival Israel Adesanya.
Pereira got too aggressive against Adesanya in their rematch at UFC 287 and was caught coming in, with Adesanya delivering massive blows to put ‘Poatan’ down.
This fight was Pereira’s last in the middleweight division. Some suggest the weight cut took its toll on Pereira’s chin, but we have seen the former two-division champion rocked in the Octagon before.
Ankalaev found success on the feet against Pereira in their first fight, stunning him at one point.