Magomed Anklaev has promised to stand up and trade with Alex Pereira for their light heavyweight title fight. But lightweight star Renato Moicano thinks that might be a truly bad idea. In a breakdown of the fight, Moicano warned Ankalaev to play to his strengths—his elite wrestling—if he wants to get the win.
He stressed that standing and trading strikes with Pereira, one of the most dangerous strikers in MMA, could hand the fight to the Brazilian on a silver platter. With Pereira’s knockout power and Ankalaev’s grappling skills, Moicano believes this fight could be decided by who sticks to their game plan better.
‘Money’ Moicano explained that if Pereira made the same mistakes he had made against Jan Blachowicz, Ankalev would take over the fight. He wants Ankalaev to understand this and wear Pereira down before taking him head-on in a strikefest.
“Because in the first three rounds he was on the striking department he was doing good. But against ‘Poatan’ in striking, I strongly advice him to shoot for the takedown in the early minutes of the fight. Try to get ‘Poatan’ tired.”
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It is understandable why Ankalaev has imposed such a condition upon himself. He had been the #1 contender in the light heavyweight division for a very long time. Despite this, the opportunity to fight for the title never seemed to be arriving for him. Pereira defended the 205 lbs gold thrice in 2024.
During the course of the year, Pereira also dubbed Ankalaev’s style boring and speculated publicly about that being the reason he wasn’t in the title picture.
It was during this time that Ankalaev began calling him out and it seems in a last-ditch effort, offered to fight the champion on his feet!
Now, that the fight is finally happening, it will be interesting to see if he keeps his word. However, much like Moicano, former light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier doesn’t think he should.
DC not impressed with Ankalaev’s striking
Cormier, during his weekly podcast with Ben Askren, claimed that Ankalaev will have to try and wrestle Pereria if he really wants to win. Citing his 3-round unanimous decision win against Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308, DC pointed out that while Ankalaev stood up and fought, it was hardly effective.
He’s not wrong. Ankalev certainly seemed to have the technique, the feet, and the head movements to manage 3 rounds but at no point did he ever look like he was going to finish the fight. And he is going to have to finish a fight with Pereira to win.
If he tries trading shots with Pereira for 5 rounds at UFC 313, he will likely face the same fate as Khaleel Rountree at UFC 307. Rountree put on a brave show, but that’s all it was- a show.
This angle of Alex Pereira walking down Khalil Rountree is brutal pic.twitter.com/p2HxPNnJlw
— (@mmamarcuss) October 7, 2024
Pereira is a world-champion kickboxer and has been blessed with one-hit KO power. So the longer the fight drags on, the more his defenses are going to suffer, and the better Pereira’s chances of connecting with a swift left hook become.
Besides, Pereira has never fought one in his pro career. So why wouldn’t Ankalev put his perceived weakness to the test and see if it works?
