Magomed Ankalaev is just hours away from his next UFC fight and fans have a lot of questions in mind. With him being a Russian fighter, a common question that often comes up is whether he trains with former UFC Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The pair do not train together nor have they ever done so. Even though a lot of Dagestani fighters train together under Khabib’s tutelage, Ankalaev is a notable exception.
‘The Eagle’ and his team train at the American Kickboxing Academy under the watchful eye of Javier Mendez, their striking coach. This is when they are in America, of course.
The light heavyweight, on the other hand, does his training at Extreme Couture.
But Ankalaev’s gym is not shy of superstars either. Its walls have seen the likes of former UFC middleweight champion, Sean Strickland, PFL heavyweight and former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, among others.
However, this is only when he is training for his fights in the United States. When he’s not in the West, Ankalaev has his own dedicated team to train in Russia. And just to re-iterate, this team is not connected with Khabib or any of the other fighters from his school.
That said, while he doesn’t train with ‘The Eagle’, Ankalaev has closely followed the latter’s career and has often praised the former lightweight’s ability to train without a break. In his words,
“I think Khabib is all the way on another level, Khabib trains and used to train without a break and without a stop. I watch his interviews….Basically he’s on a whole different level.”
Ankalaev , ahead of his fight at UFC 308, will look to replicate ‘The Eagle’s‘ dominance. He must because that is the condition he has been offered if he wants to take on Alex Pereira for the light heavyweight title.
And truth be told, he should already have that fight in the bag after all he has done. Despite Poatan repeatedly calling him boring, anyone who has watched the Russian fight knows it’s far from the truth.
DC teaches Magomed Ankalaev an English call-out
Former two-division Champ Daniel Cormier wants to see Ankalaev get a title shot next. While he still has to beat Aleksandr Rakic this weekend, it is widely expected that he will get the job done as he has done throughout. But how does he get into Pereira’s ears and force him out to the octagon?
According to DC, learn English, that’s how.
In a recent interview with the Russian fighter, Cormier taught him how to call out Pereira in English.
“If he gets through this fight on Saturday, and I walk up to him with that microphone, in English, could he say, ‘Pereira Stop Running’? Coz that would get him a title fight.”
So during the UFC 308 broadcast this weekend, if Ankalaev secures the victory, watch out for his call out to Pereira in English. Maybe he will also drop a Chama in the end.
