Magomed Ankalaev has a tall task ahead as he faces Alex Pereira, one of the UFC’s most popular champions, this Saturday. And it’s a mountain he’s willing to climb twice if the promotion calls for it.
Pereira defends his light heavyweight title for a fourth time in the main event of UFC 313, where he takes on Ankalaev, who is unbeaten in 13 straight contests. The opportunity has been a longtime coming for Ankalaev who has seen himself passed over in the past, but he expects to finish his story come fight night.
At an open workout scrum in Las Vegas, Ankalaev told reporters he’s not only confident he beats Pereira, he’s ready to grant him an immediate rematch, too.
“When it comes to me, I’ve never said no to rematches,” Ankalaev said via a Russian translator. “There’s two already I think in my career that somebody said that they deserve a rematch right away and I gave them that chance. So if it comes to me and I’m the one who decides whether he gets an opportunity for a rematch right away, of course, I’ll say yes.”
Ankalaev’s road to the title has been hindered by a lack of highlight-reel finishes and a couple of inconclusive results. In 2020, he had to fight Ion Cutelaba twice after a bizarre ending to their first meeting that saw Cutelaba seemingly pretending to be stunned after an Ankalaev strike, which resulted in the referee waving off the bout. An immediate rematch was booked and Ankalaev dismissed Cutelaba via first-round knockout.
He also had to fight Johnny Walker twice after he connected with an illegal knee in their first meeting in October 2023. Walker was unable to continue, resulting in a no-contest, and the two were booked to fight again three months later. Ankalaev won the rematch by second-round knockout.
Ankalaev has spent much of the lead-up to the Pereira fight criticizing “Poatan” for what he perceives to be a lack of focus. There’s no shortage of animosity between the two as Ankalaev believes Pereira is responsible for him not receiving a title shot earlier.
“I don’t care the way this affects him,” Ankalaev said. “I don’t care if he takes it close to heart or not. What I know is we’re looking at this fight as if it’s the last fight ever and we’re going to do whatever we can to make sure that we get this opportunity.
“We were supposed to get this opportunity a long time ago and he was the one withholding this chance from us for a long time, so we’re going to prepare do whatever we can to win and if he takes this thing personally, that’s up to him. That’s not what we’re worried about.”
Making the rivalry more complicated is the suggestion that the UFC might not want Ankalaev to defeat Pereira, given how the Brazilian knockout artist’s popularity has exploded in recent years.
Ankalaev is certain that if he wins, the promotion will learn just how valuable he is.
“A lot of emotions,” Ankalaev said. “Waiting is the worst thing you can do. You just sit there and you wait. Obviously, there was a little bit of frustration going on, but we’ve been asking for this and waiting for it and asking and waiting and it’s just been a long time. Now we’ve finally got this opportunity and that’s behind us, so we’re going to do whatever we can to make sure to get this victory.”
“I don’t know if [the UFC] appreciates me yet, but after this fight, they will make sure to appreciate me.”
TOP STORIES
Pass. Alex Pereira won’t be training with Jon Jones after all.
Poke. Manel Kape isn’t in the business of calling his own fouls.
Controversy. Gervonta Davis explains why he took a knee—and was not penalized for it—during Saturday’s lightweight title fight.
Affliction. Dana White and Donald Trump were once on opposite sides of an MMA promotional battle.
Again??? Robelis Despaigne scored another knockout in just seconds at Karate Combat.
VIDEO STEW
UFC Vegas 103 post-fight show.
Tank Davis and Lamont Roach speak to the media after controversial majority draw.
Learn from Angela Hill!
Jan Blachowicz has fought Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev, so who is his pick to win at UFC 313?
An impressive lineage.
Kamaru Usman and Din Thomas break down the UFC 313 main event.
FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR
On to the Next One. Manel Kape impressed again at UFC Vegas 103. Is he now the front-runner to face flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja, or should he have to wait for Pantoja to fight Kai Kara-France first? That and more matchmaking calls on the newest episode of OTTNO.
MMArcade Podcast. Robert Whittaker gives his pick for the UFC 313 main event.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Title shot next?
Well, OK then.
Ready to kill pic.twitter.com/YlhhkrSsNw
— Alex "Poatan" Pereira (@AlexPereiraUFC) March 2, 2025
Geez.
Great reminder of what’s at stake. Live by the sword die by the sword. It’s all I know. https://t.co/audGNaQjQG
— Justin Gaethje (@Justin_Gaethje) March 1, 2025
Solution.
At this point mma gloves about to be baking mitts pic.twitter.com/3dPMa85hQ7
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) March 2, 2025
Reeling.
First it was Hawk Tuah
— “Filthy” Tom Lawlor (@FilthyTomLawlor) March 2, 2025
Then it was John Cena
Who else will betray us?
Sorry, MDLR.
Positive InnerG.
Fight week couldn’t have gone any better. Not walking away with The win and only half your cash sucks considering everything we put into training this camp. But I know that the work put in for this one will pay off. I felt amazing in there.
— Charles "InnerG" Johnson (@innerGmma_ufc) March 2, 2025
0 time limit I never lose#crew ☠️ pic.twitter.com/nXCTiV7xWi
Questions.
We are left to ask ourselves why referee Steve Willis did not call a knockdown when anyone with even a smattering of knowledge about the sport knows he was supposed to do it. His comments to Davis at the time indicate that it looked kind of bad, as if it were a PR problem for…
— Al Bernstein (@AlBernstein) March 2, 2025
FINAL THOUGHTS
That was a good show Saturday, but there’s no time to dwell on it as we march ahead to UFC 313. It’s kind of a one-fight card, especially with Justin Gaethje going from Dan Hooker to Rafael Fiziev (still a great fight!), but “Poatan” has become must-see television so expect his long-awaited duel with Ankalaev to carry fight week.
And if you observe, a few prayers to the MMA Gods to keep this one together can’t hurt.
EXIT POLL
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