Alex Pereira is not dismissing a chance to face Magomed Ankalaev. For the champ, however, the only reason he’s considering it is to prove claims that the fighter could defeat him.
Pereira still has to make his first title defense against former light heavyweight champ Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 on April 13. Yet, different fighters in his division are already eyeing him, including Ankalaev, who defeated Johnny Walker via KO at UFC Fight Night 234 last month. After his win, the Russian fighter demanded a title shot, saying he intentionally made his latest win without using wrestling to send a message to Pereira. In his callout, the fighter underscored his winning streak to explain why he deserved the shot instead of Hill.
“I could’ve come out today and wrestled Johnny Walker,” Ankalaev said in January. “I could’ve taken him down right away and won with my ground-and-pound on the ground. Instead, I wanted to send a message. I wanted to stand up and knock him out, and that’s what I did.
“The math works out. I’m more deserving of the belt because I have 10 victories, and six of them knockouts. Jamahal Hill has eight fights total in the UFC, so it’s just clear I’m a more deserving contender than Jamahal Hill.”
With his continuous win, some are starting to believe that the No. 3 light heavyweight fighter could be Pereira’s weakness. Yet, Pereira believes otherwise. Although Ankalaev is still not on his list, the champ expressed interest in the match just to dismiss doubts about his capability.
“Magomed Ankalaev would be a good fight because it would be good to prove some people wrong,” said Pereira on The MMA Hour.
According to the champ, Ankalaev is not even on his top 3 light heavyweight contender list. For Pereira, if he were asked to rank the class weight, he would be on top, followed by Jan Blachowicz, Jiri Prochazka, and Hill. With this, “Poatan” is confident that he can easily defeat Ankalaev in case they meet inside the cage.
“People say he’s the guy to beat me, this and that,” Pereira continued. “At some point, I want to prove myself and prove to everybody, shut everybody’s mouth about my ground game.”