Magomed Ankalaev believes Alex Pereira is to blame for their UFC 313 main event being uneventful.
In the main event last Saturday in Las Vegas, Ankalaev secured a unanimous decision victory over Pereira, becoming the new UFC light heavyweight champion. Ankalaev’s strategic win was very different from Pereira’s previous, more exciting title fights, which led to some criticism from other fighters and fans.
Ankalaev defended his approach at the post-fight press conference, arguing that Pereira, nicknamed “Poatan,” was the one who didn’t engage.
“It was quite different from what we expected because Pereira usually seeks a knockout,” Ankalaev explained through a translator. “He pushes forward and tries to finish his opponents.”
“But in this fight, it was the opposite. He was running away from me, not letting me fight, and not doing much himself. That’s how the fight went,” Ankalaev stated.
The judges’ scores for Ankalaev were two scores of 48-47 and one of 49-46. Some observers felt certain rounds were very close. Ankalaev believes the victory was clear and again pointed to Pereira’s alleged reluctance to fight as the reason why there shouldn’t be complaints about the result.
“I was confident,” Ankalaev said. “I kept moving forward, pressuring him, and he kept running away. For 20 minutes, he was running. Then, after the fight, I heard him say he wasn’t sure why I was given the victory. Who else should have been given it? I was pressuring him the whole time, and he was running for 20 minutes, and now he wonders who should have won?”
“Look, I’m happy to have a rematch if he wants one. But maybe in the rematch, he can actually fight and not just run away the whole time.”
Before the fight, it was widely discussed that Ankalaev might use wrestling to counter Pereira’s striking. Although Ankalaev didn’t achieve any takedowns in the fight (missing all 12 attempts according to official UFC stats), he effectively controlled Pereira against the cage several times.
Ankalaev wasn’t surprised by Pereira’s takedown defense, nor was he surprised that he won the fight primarily with striking.
“He was considered the best striker in the division leading up to this fight,” Ankalaev mentioned. “Everyone was saying he was the best. But you saw how ‘best’ he was in the fight. You saw how well we did in striking and how effective our striking was.”
“We didn’t need to rely on wrestling because we were confident in our striking. We were trying to get him to come forward the entire time, that was our plan, but he never moved forward.”
Before the fight, Ankalaev said he would give Pereira an immediate rematch, and he still holds that position after his victory. UFC Dana White stated at the post-fight press conference that he expects a rematch to happen.
Ankalaev is ready for the rematch.
“Yes, I never choose my opponents, so I’m very happy and ready for a rematch,” Ankalaev stated. “Whenever the UFC offers it, we’ll look at the date and happily accept.”
