"I’m gonna leave no doubts for everybody" - Alex Pereira claims he was only 40% in first fight with Magomed Ankalaev

Alex Pereira recently opened up about his first fight against Magomed Ankalaev and claimed that he was only "40%" of himself in that clash. Pereira also expressed confidence in his physical state heading into their rematch.

In their first encounter at UFC 313 in March, Ankalaev defeated Pereira via unanimous decision after five rounds of action and became the new king of the light heavyweight division. The two are set to throw down again in the main event of the UFC 320 card next month.

In a recent interview with CBS Sports, 'Poatan' recalled being physically compromised in their first fight and said:

"Dealing with that is not cool, but honestly, if I put together everything that was going on with me, and I'm not going to say it right now, it makes me even happier that I was able to fight [and] to do the fight that I did with everything that was going on with me."

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He continued:

"Of course, I'm not happy with the loss, but knowing my potential in life and the way that I fought, I'm surprised that I was even able to fight with everything that was going on... Honestly, I was about 40% in that fight on that night. Obviously, it's going to be much more this time. But [even] if I'm only 50%, that 10% is going to make such a difference that I'm going to leave no doubt for anybody."

Alex Pereira gets honest about a potential Magomed Ankalaev trilogy fight

Alex Pereira doesn't see himself fighting Magomed Ankalaev for a third time. The former light heavyweight champion recently shared his thoughts on a potential trilogy fight against Ankalaev.

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Pereira made it clear that he would be done with Ankalaev after their rematch at UFC 320 and said:

"I think the story will be over. It's obviously out of my control. It's up to the UFC. If they want to do it again, I'll fight anyone. To be honest, from everything we've seen, I think with him losing, I don't think he's going to fight for the title anymore." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

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