Magomed Ankalaev says Alex Pereira is to blame for their UFC 313 main event being uneventful.
In the main fight on Saturday in Las Vegas, Ankalaev won against Pereira by unanimous decision and became the new UFC light heavyweight champion. Unlike Pereira’s previous exciting title fights, Ankalaev’s victory was more strategic, which some fighters and fans commented on negatively.
Ankalaev defended his approach at the post-fight press conference, arguing that Pereira was the one who didn’t want to fight.
“It was very different from what we expected because usually Pereira is always looking for a knockout,” Ankalaev said. “He’s aggressive and tries to finish his opponents.”
“But this time, it was different. He was avoiding me, not letting me fight my fight, and he wasn’t doing much himself. That’s how the fight went,” Ankalaev explained.
The judges scored the fight for Ankalaev with scores of 48-47, 48-47, and 49-46. Some thought the rounds were very close. However, Ankalaev believes he clearly won and again pointed to Pereira’s passivity as the reason why no one should complain about the result.
“I was confident,” Ankalaev said. “I kept moving forward, putting pressure on him, and he kept running away from me. For 20 minutes, this guy was running. Then, after the fight, he said he didn’t understand why he lost. Who should have won? I was the one pushing the whole time, and he was running for 20 minutes. And he’s wondering who should get the victory?”
“Look, I’m happy to have a rematch if he wants one. But maybe in the rematch, he’ll actually fight instead of just running away,” Ankalaev added.
Before the fight, many thought Ankalaev would use wrestling to stop Pereira’s powerful striking. Although Ankalaev didn’t manage to take Pereira down (he attempted 12 takedowns and failed each time according to UFC stats), he was successful in controlling Pereira against the cage at times.
Ankalaev wasn’t surprised by Pereira’s ability to defend takedowns, and he also wasn’t surprised that he won the fight using striking.
“Before this fight, everyone said he was the best striker in the division. They said he was the best. But you saw in the fight what kind of ‘best striker’ he is. You saw how good our striking was and how we performed in striking exchanges,” Ankalaev said.
“We didn’t need to rely on wrestling because we were confident in our striking. We were trying to make him come forward, that was our plan, but he never stepped forward.”
Before the fight, Ankalaev mentioned he would give Pereira an immediate rematch, and he still feels the same way after winning. UFC president Dana White also said at the post-fight press conference that he expects a rematch to happen.
Ankalaev is ready and waiting for the rematch.
“Yes, I never choose my opponents, so I’m very happy and ready for a rematch,” Ankalaev said. “Whenever the UFC offers it, we’ll see the date, and we’ll be happy to accept.”
