We’re just over a week out from the highly-anticipated Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight title rematch between champion Magomed Ankalaev and former two-division kingpin Alex Pereira, set to headline UFC 320 inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada — and the tension is already spilling over.
The animosity between “Big Ank” and “Poatan” stretches back to before their first meeting, and it only grew during the rematch negotiations, with Ankalaev at one point
claiming Pereira had retired and was never coming back.
While Pereira has never been known for much trash talk and more trolling, the Brazilian star has turned up the heat this time around. Earlier this week, he accused Ankalaev of “hiding” from him at the UFC Performance Institute before labeling the Russian “a shitty champion” and “a chump.”
That was enough to get a response.
“This clown who I’m fighting said I’m hiding from him, I’m giving him a rematch and he should be very grateful,” Ankalaev wrote on social media. “I whooped him for five rounds, and I did everything I wanted to him during the fight. Let’s focus on fighting and not trash-talking.”
Ankalaev didn’t stop there.
“This guy has been knocked out three times in his career, I’ve never been knocked down,” he continued. “This time I will give him his fourth knockout — end of story.”
With just 10 days to go until UFC 320, expect more verbal barbs before these rivals finally settle the score in the cage.
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