Daniel Cormier believes a fight between Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev might not make sense since the latter won’t be able to match Poatan’s stardom. Although many fans believed Pereira vs Ankalaev was the fight to make after the former decimated Jiří Procházka at UFC 303, the UFC surprised all by announcing Khalil Rountree as the next title challenger.
‘DC’ was joined by Ben Askren in the latest episode of his podcast. During their conversation, the duo discussed all the latest developments in the world of MMA. Once the conversation turned to Pereira vs Rountree at UFC 307, Cormier defended the UFC’s decision to award Rountree a title shot, saying,
“I mean, Ankalaev seems so obvious a choice but not really the choice because I would not put him in there with Alex right now. Alex Pereira is actually selling PPVs and he is making money. I don’t know if Ankalaev can do that right now.”
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Cormier went on to add that some fighters have earned immense fame by beating PPV stars such as Conor McGregor. However, he does not envision a similar thing happening if Ankalaev beats ‘Poatan.’ Pereira is arguably the biggest star in the UFC right now and is selling the most PPVs. He is also extremely active which makes him invaluable for the organisation.
Therefore, it makes sense for the UFC to protect him for as long as possible. In Rountree, Pereira is not facing a random fighter coming off a loss, he is facing the number 8th-ranked fighter on a five-fight win streak. However, he is a striker at heart and not a grappler which makes it favourable for Pereira.
In the meantime, Dana White has detailed the path Ankalaev needs to take to earn a title shot.
White shares his thoughts on snubbing Ankalaev for Rountree
In a recent press conference, Dana White was asked about Anakalev being skipped over for a title shot in favor of Rountree. White insisted that he was not skipped over. Instead, he said that the Russian martial artist has a fight coming up in October at UFC 308 against Rakic.
If Ankalaev can go in there and get the job done, he is next in line for a title shot against the winner of Pereira and Rountree. Ultimately, fans have been given two extremely interesting and competitive fights in the light heavyweight division. It will truly be interesting to see how Pereira and Anakalev fare in their respective fights.
