Magomed Ankalaev’s manager Ali Abdelaziz is giving more details on just how bad his fighter’s ribs were injured coming into his UFC 320 rematch with Alex Pereira.
Ankalaev took the light heavyweight belt
off Pereira via decision at UFC 313, only to get KO’d in less than 2 minutes for their second match in October. News quickly surfaced afterwards that “Big Ank” had fought with a big injury: busted ribs, which Abdelaziz now says kept the former champ from doing any meaningful training.
“Ankalaev did not train for almost 40 days [coming into] this fight,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. “He came from Dagestan with messed up ribs and he sparred three times. Every time we had to stop the sparring. UFC knew about it. He was getting injection, he was getting cortisone, he was getting stem cell.”
“The only thing he did for 40 days was run, jump rope, hit mitts, and do conditioning. He barely did any sparring. He did zero wrestling, zero grappling. And, you know, I hope the UFC will appreciate what he done for them to keep the main event going on.”
If Ankalaev was that injured, why did he fight? Why did his team let him fight?
“I was begging him not fight, but he did not listen to me,” Abdelaziz said. “Begged him.”
“We win together. We lose together. But sometime when it take you this many years to become a champion, you know the UFC is not gonna give you no favor here. And he stepped up for the company, and I hope they remembered it.”
The only favor Ali hopes for is another title shot after a strong comeback win.
“I think he’s one fight away, honestly, from a title [shot],” he said. “He’s 1-1 with Alex. Alex did what he had to do. He won. And now Ankalaev has to go out there and remind people why he was the best guy in the world. And I still believe Ankalaev is the best guy in the division, and I think Carlos Ulberg should be next.”
