We’re just over a month away from UFC 320 on October 4th featuring Alex Pereira attempting to win his light heavyweight belt back from Magomed Ankalaev. Pereira came up short against Ankalaev back in March, losing a decision via 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47 scores. New footage shows “Poatan” leveling up his wrestling to prepare for the Dagestani fighter.
That won’t help, according to “Big Ank.”
Pereira crossed
over from kickboxing and has always been perceived as weak on the wrestling side of things. Recent Instagram stories show him putting in the hours grappling at his gym, including one clip where he is surrounded by fresh teammates shooting endless takedowns.
“This guy bring Punch Taxi driver to help him with Wrestling,” Ankalaev wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “You don’t need to worry about Wrestling I’m gonna find this big head again.”
Pereira did well enough with Ankalaev’s takedowns in the first fight, stopping all twelve of his opponent’s attempts. But Ankalaev used many of those takedowns to push Pereira around the cage, control him, and land solid punches on the separation. Team “Poatan” undoubtedly recognizes that — they also aren’t likely to show any footage from training that may show Ankalaev anything useful.
It will be interesting to see how Pereira looks against Ankalaev in his return. He took some serious time off following the loss to heal his body, and has alluded to a number of problems leading into the Ankalaev fight that hindered his performance. As for Ankalaev, he’s clearly feeling more confident than ever as he comes into his first title defense.
Who do you see taking this one, Maniacs? Let us know in the comments.
