LAS VEGAS – Magomed Ankalaev explains how his rematch with Alex Pereira won’t pan out like their first fight.
Light heavyweight champion Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) runs things back with Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 320 headliner (pay-per-view, FX/ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The road to this fight has been drastically different than their first meeting, with the pair trading barbs and even getting into an altercation at the UFC Performance Institute. Although he’s initiated plenty of it, Ankalaev insists it’s just pre-fight build up.
“Honestly, it doesn’t bother me too much,” Ankalaev told MMA Junkie and other media through an interpreter at Wednesday’s media day. “The biggest thing, the most important thing is to make sure that this whole week goes safely – no injuries, no problems, and then the rest of this stuff, the build-up, all of this talk, all of this hype, that’s just entertainment basically.”
Ankalaev outstruck Pereira en route to a unanimous decision win at UFC 313, but vows a more action-packed fight on Saturday.
“Obviously, there was a lot of things said on my side. There was a lot of things said on his side,” Ankalaev said. “There were misunderstandings in between. All of this stuff just added a lot more aggression to the fight and to the build-up to the fight, and I think we should expect a more aggressive second fight than the first fight – which is going to be something that the fans expect, and I think they’re not going to be disappointed in what they see.”
