Magomed Ankalaev is set for a title defense match against Alex Pereira at UFC 320. The bout will be a rematch after their UFC 313 clash that left Pereira dethroned.
“Chama” is eager to reclaim his belt, but Ankalaev’s coach, Sukhrav Magomedov, doesn’t believe Pereira is good enough to take down Ankalaev.
“Alex will go for the clinch, wrestle. Why? Because in the stand-up, nothing will work out for him,” Magomedov said on UFC 320 Countdown. “Alex Pereira, there’s nothing with which he can surprise us. Not his work in the stand-up, in wrestling he definitely cannot surprise. He cannot surprise with anything. His technique is standard, his strikes are standard. He’s an old kickboxer. He has no speed. Powerful punch? Alex has a punch, but not the kind that can really knock you out.
“And I tell everyone, if Magomed opens up, he’ll surprise everyone, and can even outplay, in pure stand-up, a better striker than Alex Pereira.”
In their first fight, Ankalaev did out-strike Pereira, winning the bout without scoring a single takedown, and repeatedly tagging “Poatan” with big punches. In his upcoming rematch, Ankalaev plans doing more of that with an added twist.
“From the first fight with Alex, I realized after rewatching it, I saw many moments where I didn’t follow through, where I could have finished him early, where I could have taken him down,” Ankalaev said in the Countdown show. “The fight will be such that we will dominate in it.”
UFC 320 goes down this Saturday in Las Vegas and also features a bantamweight co-main event title fight between Merab Dvalishvili and Cory Sandhagen.
