"He hits so hard" - Dricus du Plessis issues bold preview of Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira title rematch at UFC 320

Dricus du Plessis recently shared his thoughts on the Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira title fight and issued his pick. The former UFC middleweight champion opined that he didn't see their fight going the distance this time and reacted to Ankalaev vowing to stand and strike with Pereira.

Ankalaev and Pereira are set to throw down in a title rematch at UFC 320 this weekend. In their first encounter, Ankalaev beat Pereira via unanimous decision after five rounds of action and won the light heavyweight championship. A Merab Dvalishvili vs. Cory Sandhagen bantamweight title fight will serve as the co-main feature for the UFC 320 event.

In a recent interview with Fight Forecast, du Plessis picked Pereira to reclaim the 205-pound title and said:

"The thing with Pereira is, he's a bully fighter in the sense that he walks you down and he's intimidating. He hits so hard, he doesn't care if he walks into the fire. Ankalaev was smart in the first fight to stay away and then get all the way in to smother him and put him on the back foot. When Pereira's on the back foot, he's not the best; that's not his style."

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He continued:

"Now they know Ankalaev's going to close that gap. I know Ankalaev said he's gonna strike with him. I don't think that's a great idea. I really don't think that's a good idea. I don't really see this fight going the distance this time. I'm putting my money on Pereira to reclaim the title."

Alex Pereira reacts to Magomed Ankalaev's coach questioning his KO power

Alex Pereira recently reacted to Magomed Ankalaev's coach, Sukhrab Magomedov, questioning his knockout power. In an episode of the UFC 320 Countdown series, Magomedov downplayed Pereira's striking prowess and KO power while referencing Ankalaev's previous win over the Brazilian.

During a media interaction (via @MMAJunkie on X), 'Poatan' shared his reaction to Magomedov's comments and said:

"It’s just talk, he saw it in my fight with Ankalaev, but he also saw it in all the other fights. Even the ref [Marc Goddard] said he hadn’t seen anything like that in 30 years. But it’s good, let him think that. He’ll be in for a surprise."

He continued:

"When those videos came out, you know, I skipped through them. I don’t watch the other guy, any of his stuff. I’ll watch what I’m doing and my fight with him, but I don’t want to hear or see what he’s doing. I swear, I don’t watch him."

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