Magomed Ankalaev fires personal shot at Alex Pereira after greasing accusation backlash

UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev has fired a personal dig at Alex Pereira following the Brazilian's response to his greasing accusation.

At UFC 313 earlier this month, Ankalaev defeated Pereira via unanimous decision to win the 205-pound title. Many had expected the Dagestani fighter to use his wrestling to win the bout, but he was unable to take 'Poatan' down throughout the contest. Instead the pair went the distance in a largely uneventful contest that saw Ankalaev pick up the victory by outstriking the uncharacteristically gun-shy Brazilian.

Despite losing his title and delivering a lackluster performance, Pereira was praised by fans for the takedown defense he showed on the night. Across the 25 minutes of action, Ankalaev shot for 12 takedowns, with Pereira successfully defending every one.

This later led to a number of accusations by Magomed Ankalaev's coach, Sukhrab Magomedov, with him claiming Alex Pereira had greased his body in order to prevent Ankalaev from taking him down.

Alex Pereira then appeared with his coach, Plinio Cruz, on The Ariel Helwani Show and responded to the accusations. Translated by Cruz, Pereira said:

"Sounds to me like he’s trying to make an excuse to justify the fact that he trained a guy to take me down, but the guy got stuffed on 12 takedowns.”

Check out their comments here

Following their response, Ankalaev opted to fire back with a personal attack on his rival's appearance, writing:

"Honestly, I really like this coach, but I don’t like Alex’s face"

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Magomed Ankalaev responds to Joe Rogan's claim Alex Pereira fought with hand injury and Norovirus

Magomed Ankalev recently responded to claims made by Joe Rogan, which saw the UFC commentator state that Alex Pereira went into their UFC 313 bout with a hand injury and bout of norovirus.

Speaking on a recent episode of the JRE Fight Companion, Rogan said:

''They say he fought with a broken hand and norovirus against Ankalaev. He fought with a broken toe before when he beat Jiri Prochazka.'' (45:13)

Catch Rogan's comments here:

Ankalaev then took to X to respond, revealing that he has agreed to a rematch with Pereira in August if 'Poatan' is healthy. He said:

''Joe Rogan mentioned his team said that Alex fought with a broken hand and Norovirus, when fighters step in the cage nobody is 100%. I was offered a rematch with him in August and I said yes, but if he is not ready I will fight whoever is next it doesn’t matter.''