Magomed Ankalaev played the villain on Saturday night by spoiling Alex Pereira’s storybook reign as light heavyweight champion at UFC 313. After overcoming some early leg-kick success by Pereira, Ankalaev fell into a groove and disrupted “Poatan,” ultimately earning a polarizing unanimous decision to take the belt.
Speaking at UFC 313’s post-fight press conference, UFC CEO Dana White acknowledged that he didn’t envision Ankalaev vs. Pereira unfolding in the manner it did, though he agreed with the end result.
“It was not what I expected,” White said. “I expected a lot more shooting [takedown], expected a lot more exchanges.”
Pereira, 37, remains one of MMA’s biggest active stars, regardless of the loss. His unbelievable 2024 campaign, which saw him defend his title three times with three vicious knockouts, cemented Pereira’s place in history as a two-division UFC champion and is arguably enough to warrant an instant rematch.
White stated Saturday night that Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2 “probably” makes sense for the division’s next title bout, regardless of whether or not he felt like UFC 313’s main event lived up to the hype.
“I definitely don’t know his schedule,” White said of Pereira. “I know he’s been bouncing around. But you see this everywhere when somebody becomes a big star and they start making lots of money — there are lots of different doors that open, and opportunities. But there’s no doubt everybody knew that Ankalaev was going to be a tough fight for him. Everybody knew this was probably going to be the biggest challenge of his career.
“I wouldn’t take anything away from Ankalaev [after] the pressure that he put on Alex tonight, and kept pushing forward. Even in the fifth round, I was listening on the headphones — Alex’s corner was saying, ‘You got to go after him in this round. You have to let everything go. You gotta let your hands go. You got to try to take him out.'”
Pereira declined to show up for a post-fight press conference Saturday but appeared in good spirits while addressing his future in his first public statements on Instagram following his loss to Ankalaev.
“That’s it, everyone. Some marks [on my face], but I’m good. Gonna rest a bit. I’ll be back, like I’ve always done. This has already happened sometimes, but I’m good. I’m grateful for all your support, for all your love, always supporting me. I’m receiving so many messages of great encouragement. I’m here with my people, my family, my team, my children. Everyone’s here. Everyone’s here with me. Gonna have some pizza. That’s that. Life continues. Thank you to everyone.
“Gonna make some adjustments for the rematch, and I’ll be back much better. You can count on it. All good, everyone. Never give up on your dreams. Chama.”
Pereira’s only previous UFC loss came in his middleweight title rematch with Israel Adesanya in 2023. Since then, he’s been a destroyer at 205 pounds, racking up five consecutive victories prior to UFC 313.
Ankalaev, 32, extended his own unbeaten streak to an impressive 14 straight with his victory over Pereira. No stranger to rematches, the Dagestan native was ultra-confident that he could stand with the former two-division GLORY Kickboxing champion — and that proved to be true. Ankalaev said post-fight that he doesn’t believe Saturday’s result was all that close, though he’s in for a rematch if the promotion wants it.
“I was confident,” Ankalaev said regarding the judges’ decision. “I kept on moving forward. I kept on pressuring him, and he kept on running away from me. For 20 minutes, this guy was running away from me. Then I heard at the end of the fight he was saying that he wasn’t sure why the victory was given to me. Who’s supposed to be given the victory, you know? I’ve been pressuring him the entire time. He was running for 20 minutes, then he’s wondering who’s supposed to get the victory.
“Listen, I’m happy for a rematch if he wants a rematch. But then maybe in the rematch, he can fight for real. Not just run away the entire time.”
Ankalaev’s strong wrestling base was expected to be his X-factor to defeat Pereira. Yet while it arguably was helpful enough just by being a potential threat, Ankalaev failed on all 12 of his takedown attempts.
Ankalaev turned to cage control as the fight wore on, though he still had no trouble going toe-to-toe with the feared knockout artist. Ankalaev’s constant pressure halted Pereira’s vaunted striking arsenal, which frustrated the the new champion; in a potential sequel, he hopes to put forth a more entertaining affair.
“He was considered to be the best striker in the division on the way to this fight,” Ankalaev said. “That’s what everybody was talking about. The narrative was that he’s the best. You saw what kind of ‘best striker’ he was in the fight. You saw how well we did against his striking, and how our striking was working. We didn’t have to rely on the wrestling because we’re confident in our striking.
“We were trying to get him to go forward the entire time. That’s what we were baiting, trying to push, and he never walked forward.”
Alex Pereira,Magomed Ankalaev,UFC,Dana White,light heavyweight champion
