Magomed Ankalaev sharpens skills with PFL heavyweight ahead of Alex Pereira clash after training with Alexander Volkov

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira needs to take Magomed Ankalaev seriously, particularly as the challenger has been sharpening his skills with heavyweights.

After news of Ankalaev's sparring session with UFC heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov went viral, the Dagestani was recently pictured with PFL heavyweight Marcelo Nunes, a grappling standout. Sporting an 11-2 MMA record, Nunes is 4-1 in PFL, with all his fights ending via finishes, mostly submissions.

Nunes' latest Instagram story showed a snap, taken from the Porrada Training Center in Las Vegas, with Ankalaev, manager Ali Abdelaziz, coach Sukhrab Magomedov, and Ronny Markes. The picture was seemingly taken after an intense grappling session, evidenced by the sweat on the fighters.

Screenshot of Marcelo Nunes' social media post [Image Source - @marcelonunesbjj on Instagram]

Ankalaev's sparring with Volkov caused a stir on social media as many thought the Russian would face Alex Pereira in a standup battle, fulfilling his promise. Now, with the Russian's practice session in grappling, an apparent weakness of 'Poatan,' it seems like the challenger has the right game plan for the title fight.

The fight at UFC 313 will be Ankalaev's second chance to become the light heavyweight champion. The 32-year-old's first attempt was at UFC 282 against Jan Blachowicz, which ended in a split draw.

In his most recent bout, Ankalaev defeated Aleksandar Rakic by unanimous decision at UFC 308. On the other hand, Pereira is coming off a knockout victory over Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307.

Bo Nickal gives his prediction for Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev

On episode 66 of the Nickals and Dimes podcast, co-host Bo Nickal previewed Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev, the UFC 313 main event. Despite the challenger promising to fight to the champion's strength, Nickal claimed the Russian was a smart person who would employ a smart gameplan - wrestling.

However, the American doesn't think Ankalaev's wrestling is good enough to win the fight. To make his point, he cited the Russian fighter's only loss in MMA to Paul Craig. For context, Nickal's latest victory in the promotion was against Craig, who now competes at middleweight.

Nickal said:

"I think Ankalaev is a smart guy. He's gonna take him down. He's just gonna take him down. I don't think his wrestling is like unbelievable. Like, he's not a wrestler. People think, 'Oh, Russian wrestler.' No, he's not a wrestler. I think Pereira is going to win as well. If Ankalaev just wrestles the whole fight, he could probably win, but I don't think his wrestling is that good."

"Like, yeah, he wrestled with Paul Craig, and Paul Craig was taking him down, and Paul Craig was reversing him. So, I mean, obviously, Craig ended up submitting him but I feel like (I'm) not impressed with his ground game, his grappling. He's going to have to strike with him at some point, and I think Pereira will knock him out. Like, he just, that's just the reality of the situation."

Check out Bo Nickal's comments about Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira below (22:07):