Magomed Ankalaev not only got a win, but also a finish in his return to the cage. Yet, fans are not happy with what the Dagestani fighter showed at UFC Fight Night 282.
Ankalaev (21-2-1 MMA, 12-2-1 UFC) stopped Bogdan Guskov (18-3-1 MMA, 4-1-1 UFC) in a fifth-round TKO in the headliner of Saturday's UFC event in Abu Dhabi. It was a fight that didn't have much action, and many online were criticizing it for being boring. Most of the blame has been targeted towards Ankalaev, who has been in this position before.
Chris Weidman, a former UFC champion turned analyst, thinks the public is being unfair to Ankalaev, and he actually liked what he saw from him.
"I think he's as good as we always thought he was," Weidman said on "Deep Waters". "I think he's very
good, and so you want to see him go out there and just dominate this guy. The first couple of rounds, I think he was taking his time. In the third round, I think he made a decision and realized that Bogdan isn't going to throw at him crazy and go to war with him. He tried to push the pace. He tried to look for the finish, and Guskov was running from him. He shot for a takedown and took him down super easy. He ends up getting the finish by TKO. It wasn't a super exciting fight, but I don't think this one was his fault. I think it was Guskov's fault."
Weidman feels the blame should be put on Guskov, who was the one backing up most of the fight. Guskov had taken the fight with Ankalaev on short notice, replacing an injured Khalil Rountree on just a week's notice.
"I don't think it was (Ankalaev's) fault," Weidman said. "Five-round fight, the first couple of rounds, I think you do have to pace yourself a little bit, feel it out – but he dominated the fight everywhere. I think this was the first time we saw him wrestle in a long time. This is what you wanted him to see when he fought Pereira.
"He finished a guy who's very dangerous, so you have to give him props. I feel like we're being harder on him than most people because I think we realize he's that good. The guy goes out there and gets a finish, and we're still saying he's boring."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Chris Weidman: Boring UFC headliner was not Magomed Ankalaev's fault
