Ankalaev Dethrones Pereira To Become Lightweight Champ

Magomed Ankalaev upset the UFC world by beating Alex Pereira to become the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion at UFC 313.

Ankalaev secured a unanimous decision win to give Alex his first loss in the weight class: 49-46, 48-47, 48-47. Before the fight, there was talk of Pereira moving up to heavyweight amid links to a Jon Jones fight. There was also speculation that Alex could end up having a boxing fight against Oleksandr Usyk, raising fears he may have overlooked his opponent. But that is all immaterial as Ankalaev produced the goods. It was a close first round, with Pereira applying pressure with his low calf kicks.

The Brazilian’s head kicks were keeping Ankalaev at bay, who responded with a takedown attempt. Things opened up in round two as Ankalaev switched stances to back Alex up. A one-two combo, followed by a left hand, buzzed Alex, who survived the round.

After a close third round, Ankalaev increased the pace and used the clinch every time to slow Pereira down while not fully committing to a takedown. The pace slowed Alex down, taking his striking away, as Ankalaev held on through a close final round to take the win. Ankalaev is now 12-0-1, while Alex’s five-fight win streak ends.

Post-Fight

"I can’t even put it into words. This is my dream and it’s right here around my waist. The plan was to pressure, pressure, pressure. Everybody who fights against [Pereira] always counters, but my job was to make sure that I work as number one, and everybody who fights against me becomes the counter-striker, and my plan worked," Ankalaev

"I knew it would be a war. Every fight of mine is a war. He put some pressure in the second round. I felt some of his strikes but putting me up against the cage, he didn’t really do anything. We followed our strategy. [And] we know that he puts people against the fence and he plays that game.

Giving him the win with a game plan like that kind of incentivizes people to do that against people. People might say it’s a boring style but when a guy gets a win doing that, it kind of makes people want to do that, too. I hurt him against the fence, the only difference was I was the one against the fence," Pereira said

Full Card

Magomed Ankalaev wins against Alex Pereira by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47).

Justin Gaethje wins against Rafael Fiziev by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Ignacio Bahamondes wins against Jalin Turner by submission (triangle choke) at 2:29 of Round 1.

Amanda Lemos wins against Iasmin Lucindo by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Mauricio Ruffy wins against King Green by KO (spinning wheel kick) at 2:07 of Round 1.

Joshua Van wins against Rei Tsuruya by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27).

Brunno Ferreira wins against Armen Petrosyan by submission (armbar) at 4:27 of Round 2.

Carlos Leal wins against Alex Morono by TKO (strikes) at 4:16 of Round 1.

Mairon Santos wins against Francis Marshall by split decision (27-30, 29-28, 29-28).

Ozzy Diaz wins against Djorden Santos by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

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