Ex-UFC champion issues brutal reality check to Magomed Ankalaev about Alex Pereira fight: "Foolish to not even have the threat" 

A former UFC champ recently provided a reality check for Magomed Ankalaev about his upcoming fight against Alex Pereira. The former middleweight king predicted Ankalaev's pre-determined strategy for Pereira as inefficient.

The Pereira vs. Ankalaev encounter is scheduled for March 8 as the main event of UFC 313. However, Ankalaev had been firing shots at Pereira since his victory against Johnny Walker at UFC Vegas 84 on Jan. 14, 2024.

Initially, 'Poatan' didn't show much interest towards them, rejecting the Dagestani's offer to fight him in Abu Dhabi. However, Ankalaev continued dissing Pereira almost throughout 2024 to rage-bait him into accepting the fight.

In the post-fight press conference after defeating Walker, Ankalaev also mentioned that he would play according to Pereira's strengths and refrain from wrestling during their then-probable fight. However, now that their fight has been confirmed, the former middleweight champ, Michael Bisping, opined that taking this approach against Pereira might spell doom for Ankalaev.

Bisping opined that Ankalaev's strength lies in mixing up his striking with his on-par grappling skills. The UK native hence mentioned that approaching Pereira with a no-grappling strategy would be an ardently "foolish" move:

"We all know that Magomed Ankalaev says he’s not going to wrestle. I think it would be foolish [for him] not to wrestle, foolish not to mix things up, foolish to not even have the threat of the takedown to slow down the outputs of Alex Pereira."

Check out Michael Bisping's comments below (04:39):

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Dustin Poirier feels Magomed Ankalaev will have better chances if he wrestles with Alex Pereira

Dustin Poirier voiced his appreciation for Alex Pereira in a recent appearance on the Outta Pocket with RGIII podcast. 'The Diamond' also picked 'Poatan' as his favorite for the Brazilian's upcoming encounter against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313.

However, Poirier also labeled the matchup as an "unpredictable" one, along with supporting Michael Bisping's aforementioned inference about the fight. The Lafayette native implied that Ankalaev would have better chances of winning if he used his wrestling skills against Pereira:

"I think this [the Pereira vs. Ankalaev fight] is, it's unpredictable. I'm excited about this matchup 'cause if this guy [Ankalaev] comes out and wrestles, we've seen Pereira being taken down, we got to see his get-ups [how Pereira gets back to the feet]".

Poirier added:

"But he [Pereira] has God-given power, man. One mistake from Ankalaev, and the fight's over. I'm excited about that one. But I'm still picking Pereira. I'm still picking Pereira."

Check out Dustin Poirier's words below (49:23):