Alex Pereira's next UFC fight, Dana White under fire for boxing pay scale, Ariel Helwani's biggest fear about Jones-Aspinall: MMA News Roundup

A new online conversation may have hinted at Alex Pereira's next UFC outing. Elsewhere, Dana White found himself facing criticism after the fighter salaries for his new boxing league were reported.

Catch up with today's top combat sports reports, with Sportskeeda MMA's News Roundup.

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Magomed Ankalaev's tweet sparks UFC rematch rumors

Many fans, and Alex Pereira himself, called for a rematch after his title loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. When asked about its possibility during the post-event press conference, Dana White said, "Probably." Ankalaev also said that Pereira deserved the rematch in a social media statement after becoming the new light heavyweight champion.

Around 10 days later, Ankalaev tweeted that he had already accepted his next UFC fight:

"I have a date, and I accepted already, I hope my opponent will accept too. This time there will be no 5 rounds, I don't get paid by the hour."

The framing of the tweet and the quickness of the fight booking got fans to speculate that it was a rematch with Pereira. Following Ankalaev's tweet, 'Poatan' posted a three-word story on Instagram, which further cemented the MMA community's doubts:

"Let’s go Ali [Abdelaziz]. Chama."

Ali Abdelaziz is Ankalaev's manager, who is believed to be the one operating the social media profiles of several of his fighters.

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Fans criticize Dana White for TKO's new boxing pay scale

The pay structure of the new boxing league, which will be run jointly by Saudi Arabia's Turki Alalshikh-led Riyadh Season and UFC owners, TKO Group Holdings Inc., was released this week. The report proved many right who feared that the new league would have similar pay scales as the UFC and wouldn't match the figures made by the top boxers in the industry.

The sums ranged from $20,000 for unranked fighters to $750,000 for every title defense. In comparison, Gervonta Davis had a reported $5 million guaranteed payout for his fight against Ryan Garcia, and for the latter, it was $2.5 million. They made PPV shares on top of this.

Dana White, who would be one of the chief brains behind the league, took fire from fans over the matter. One said:

"This seems way too stupid for them to actually think it would work."

Another wrote:

"I give this 2 years max."

A third tweeted:

"So 'Tank' would get $20K for a fight?"

Read the full details and more fan reactions here.

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What worries Ariel Helwani the most about Jon Jones vs. Tom Aspinall

As the UFC heavyweight champion, Jon Jones was expected to fight the interim champion, Tom Aspinall. However, the fight hasn't been booked for two years now. Aspinall has been calling for it, while Jones has remained silent on the matter, at least in public. Many have speculated it is his negotiation or marketing tactic to sell the fight, while some others believe 'Bones' simply doesn't want to face the Brit.

Now that the fight is being touted for the Madison Square Garden card that takes place in New York in November, Ariel Helwani has certain trepidations about it, which he shared on his show:

"That worries me. Because, if they tell Tom, 'Please just sit tight, you're getting this fight. You're just gonna have to wait a couple months.' And then he waits those months, and then it doesn't happen. Sound familiar? Chandler-McGregor? And then what does he do? Now he's staring at being 32 and wasting prime years of his life."

Michael Chandler famously waited for Conor McGregor's return for months - a decision many believe was detrimental to his MMA career.