‘Lucky, Overrated’ Pereira ‘Has To Face’ Ankalaev Before Heavyweight

Magomed Ankalaev has been waiting for his second Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title shot.

UFC’s Light Heavyweight division is starting to return to a consistent state thanks to the current champion, Alex Pereira. “Poatan” has now defended his title twice after two recent knockouts over former champions Jamahal Hill (watch highlights) and Jiri Prochazka (watch highlights).

Before Pereira came to 205 pounds, Ankalaev was first in line to battle for vacant gold when the then-champion Prochazka went down with an injury. Unfortunately for Ankalaev, his tilt against Jan Blachowicz resulted in a split draw in December 2022. He’s been on the outside looking in ever since and could get passed over again if Pereira decides to pursue gold at Heavyweight.

“I don’t know why people are saying he’s going to move up to the actual Heavyweight division,” Ankalaev told MMA Junkie. “I don’t see that. As a guy who has no wrestling, I think it’s going to be really hard for him. Maybe just one fight, but I think once he came up to Light Heavyweight, he went through the division, but I’m still there. He didn’t fight me. If you want to be the champion of the division I think he definitely has to face me first. Then maybe he can consider other moves.”

Ankalaev, 32, has been nearly perfect in his 21-fight career (19-1-1, 1 no contest), losing only his UFC debut when Paul Craig scored a Hail Mary last-second triangle choke in March 2018. 10 victories, one draw, and one no contest later and Ankalaev is the clear next in line atop the Light Heavyweight heap as the No. 2-ranked contender.

Ultimately, when it comes to a stylistic match up against the champion, Ankalaev isn’t overly impressed.

“With Alex, you just have to watch a couple of his past fights: With Blachowicz, his wrestling was on the level and Alex didn’t have much to offer,” Ankalaev said. “Same with [Israel] Adesanya. They’re both strikers, but Adesanya was able to show him some wrestling. I think he is a great striker, but he is the kind of guy that always moves forward, and that’s sometimes where he might make mistakes, where I might catch him. There is strategy we have if he’s going to be doing striking. Also, if we add wrestling here, I think he doesn’t stand a chance and I have a few potential options how to finish him.

“He definitely has a strong punch, but overall his standup is overrated,” he continued. “Watch his fight with Jamahal Hill. He had something to offer to counter him. Same in the fight with Prochazka. You could see he is also moving forward with the same style. He was lucky he didn’t face serious opposition. Wrestling is there, but I’m ready to fight with him standing up, to test him out.”

Luckily for Ankalaev, he may be close again to getting his wish after Pereira recently shared his interest in “shutting people up” about an Ankalaev fight. If he does stay at Light Heavyweight, Pereira vs. Ankalaev will be a thrilling affair, believes the would-be challenger.

“I think I’m going to be the next one for the title shot because if you look at the top five, everyone had a loss recently, and just logically I’m going to be stepping up and having this title fight next,” Ankalaev said. “When it comes to Light Heavyweight, I put a lot of hard work here. I have a stellar record. He moved up to our division. He got lucky. He had a good run, but it’s just fair that he has to face me.

“We have to settle this with him,” he concluded. “It’s going to be a great fight. We both have our personalities and I think people should expect fireworks in that one.”