Magomed Ankalaev has been anxiously awaiting the prospect to defend his UFC mild heavyweight title, and it seems his anticipated rematch in opposition to Alex Pereira is prone to happen later this 12 months.
On Thursday, Ankalaev’s longtime supervisor, Ali Abdelaziz, revealed that he anticipates the Russian returning to motion in October and working it again with Pereira for a second time. There are at present two pay-per-view occasions scheduled that month, with UFC 320 on Oct. 4 in Las Vegas after which UFC 321 on Oct. 25 from Abu Dhabi.
Competing in Abu Dhabi would possibly make extra sense for Ankalaev, however then once more, Pereira’s star energy might demand a return to Las Vegas, however both manner, Abdelaziz expects his fighter to listen to “and nonetheless” when the night time is over.
“I feel Alex is an effective fighter. I feel he’s an actual fighter. He’s a lion,” Abdelaziz stated about Pereira on the Pound-for-Pound podcast. “However in a manner, Ankalaev ought to have been champion two or three years in the past. Alex would have by no means been the champion. I’m going to inform you one thing — in the event that they struggle once more, and they’re going to struggle once more, most likely in October — it’s going to be worse for Alex.
“Alex, he’s a fighter, however now Ankalaev has the boldness. He understands [Alex] was a scary man, touching individuals and knocking them out, however he fought a complete bunch of mediocre strikers. None of those guys have been high-level strikers. Ankalaev, he can wrestle, he can grapple, and he can strike. Really, I feel Ankalaev is extra of a striker than a grappler. We [saw] him; he harm Pereira] within the struggle. Alex didn’t harm him. I’m going to inform you one thing, when you could have the boldness to harm individuals otherwise you begin knocking individuals out, it’s a sense.”
Ankalaev is undefeated in his previous 14 fights, together with his unanimous choice victory over Pereira of their first assembly again in March.
Since that point, Ankalaev has been quite vocal about making an attempt to get the rematch in opposition to Pereira scheduled before later, with hopes that he might keep lively as champion.
Abdelaziz clearly has confidence that Ankalaev goes to efficiently defend his title and keep champion for fairly a while now that he’s lastly obtained his fingers on the belt.
“I feel Ankalaev proper now could be going to be very harmful,” Abdelaziz stated. “And bear in mind, Alex is 38 years previous. He travels in all places. He has a fantastic coach. I like his coach lots. I feel he’s an excellent man, however I feel that is Ankalaev’s time.
“It ought to have been Ankalaev’s time. Hunter Campbell, Mick Maynard all of the UFC, they was all sandbagging him and now they know what’s coming. They have been praying for [Ankalaev] to lose.”
