Magomed Ankalaev: Ex-UFC champion issues brutal reality check to Magomed Ankalaev about Alex Pereira fight: "Foolish to not even have the threat"

A former UFC middleweight champion recently provided a reality check for Magomed Ankalaev about his upcoming fight against Alex Pereira. The fighter feels that the strategy Ankalaev previously mentioned using against Pereira is inefficient.

The Pereira vs. Ankalaev encounter is scheduled for March 8 as the main event of UFC 313. However, Ankalaev had been firing shots at Pereira since his victory against Johnny Walker at UFC Vegas 84 in January last year.

Initially, 'Poatan' didn't show much interest towards them, rejecting the Dagestani's offer to fight him in Abu Dhabi. That said, Ankalaev continued throwing jabs at Pereira almost throughout 2024 before the fight was finally made official.

In the post-fight press conference after defeating Walker, Ankalaev mentioned that he would play according to Pereira's strengths and refrain from wrestling should they end up fighting. Now that the contest has been confirmed, Michael Bisping feels that taking this approach against Pereira might spell doom for Ankalaev.

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In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Bisping opined that Ankalaev's strength lies in mixing up his striking with his grappling skills. 'The Count' mentioned that approaching Pereira with a no-grappling strategy would be a "foolish" move:

"We all know that Magomed Ankalaev says he’s not going to wrestle. I think it would be foolish [for him] not to wrestle, foolish not to mix things up, foolish to not even have the threat of the takedown to slow down the outputs of Alex Pereira."

Check out Michael Bisping's comments below (04:39):

Dustin Poirier feels Magomed Ankalaev will have better chances if he wrestles with Alex Pereira

Dustin Poirier voiced his appreciation for Alex Pereira in a recent appearance on the Outta Pocket with RGIII podcast. 'The Diamond' also picked 'Poatan' as the favorite for the Brazilian's upcoming encounter against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313.

However, Poirier also labeled the matchup as an "unpredictable" one, along with supporting Michael Bisping's aforementioned inference about the fight. The Lafayette native implied that Ankalaev would have better chances of winning if he used his wrestling skills against Pereira:

"I think this [the Pereira vs. Ankalaev fight] is, it's unpredictable. I'm excited about this matchup 'cause if [Ankalaev] comes out and wrestles, we've seen Pereira being taken down, we got to see his get-ups [how Pereira gets back to the feet]".

Poirier added:

"But he [Pereira] has God-given power, man. One mistake from Ankalaev, and the fight's over. I'm excited about that one. But I'm still picking Pereira. I'm still picking Pereira."

Check out Dustin Poirier's words below (49:23):

About the author

Souvik took up writing as his profession in 2019 and has worked for various publications, including EssentiallySports and The SportsRush since then.
While he holds a diploma in electrical engineering, Souvik’s love for combat sports and the written word has ensured a seamless transition to his current profession.
As of the UFC, Dustin Poirier is his favorite fighter. 'The Diamond's' respectful attitude in a trash-talk-heavy sport makes Souvik root for him. Poirier's five-round war against Dan Hooker in June 2020 is his all-time favorite MMA scrap to date.
Furthermore, he is of the opinion that MMA has taken over boxing as the world’s top combat sport due to the regularity of events.
Coming to his writing, Souvik will do everything to ensure that his pieces are informative and relevant, which is perhaps why one of his articles is still the most viewed in the MMA division of EssentiallySports.
Souvik’s other interests include singing (he’s a frontman for a rock band in Kolkata), playing guitar, and watching documentaries.

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Edited by Jigyanshushri Mahanta