Despite sitting at the #2 spot in the light heavyweight rankings, the UFC booked Magomed Ankalaev against Aleksandar Rakić, denying him his long-sought-after title shot against champion, Alex Pereira. This has the Dagestani livid, who now has slammed ‘Poatan,’ dismissing his ducking claim, vowing to expose the Brazilian’s “weak chin.”
Taking things to social media and tagging the champ on his post, Ankalaev wrote,
“@AlexPereiraUFC can you please tell me which fight I did not accept to fight with you? I’m going to KO Rakic and after I will expose you especially your chin because you have a weak one.”
Magomed Ankalaev says Alex Pereira has a "weak" chin and says he's going to expose him 😳#UFC #MMA pic.twitter.com/rGyLviCjJZ
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 27, 2024
Deeming that Pereira is just spreading outright lies about him ducking the champ, Ankalaev earlier noted that neither Uncle Dana nor Mick Maynard approached him with a fight and called him a liar.
The general consensus was that the Russian was offered a short-notice fight against Pereira at UFC 300 only to be denied by him. Another narrative that has been circling around the internet is that Ankalaev favored Abu Dhabi as his favorite venue and he turned down title fights just to fight in UAE.
Pereira on the other hand has claimed that the Russian was offered an opportunity which is supposedly turned down.
Boiling over Pereira‘s remarks, Ankalaev vowed to teach the champion a lesson, promising that he make an example out of him and expose his apparent weak chin after he KOs Rakic.
Furthermore, Ankalaev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz has also dismissed the champion’s claims.
Ali Abdelaziz comes in support of Ankalaev
Known for his association with Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev, Ali Abdelaziz is right now a prominent name in the fight business, managing several fighters linked to his Dominance MMA Management.
As it turns out, Ankalaev is one such athlete, currently under Ali’s management. So with the internet going ablaze with Pereira’s claim and Ankalaev’s counter argument, Ali was quick to respond.
In his tweet, he confirmed that the promotion never really offered a title fight to his pupil against Pereira. He wrote,
“Just to be clear the UFC never offered a fight to Magomed Ankalaev against Alex Pereira, this is one thing I’m 100% certain about.”
Nevertheless, Magomed will take on Rakic in two weeks, looking to put out a statement that will likely warrant him a title shot against the champion.
Dana White himself had declared at a presser that if Ankalaev beat Rakic, he would be first in line against Pereira. And given the hatred these two share for each other, it could very well be the banger, the UFC has been waiting for since Max Holloway knocked out Justin Gaethje for the BMF title at UFC 300.
