It looks like Magomed Ankalaev had more than just Alex Pereira to worry about at UFC 320.
Yesterday, Ankalaev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, claimed that the Russian standout was “severely compromised” heading into his rematch with Pereira. And now, miraculously, new leaked video footage appears to back that up.
Brazilian reporter, Leo Guimaraes, released a video showing Ankalaev allegedly getting his ribs examined by a doctor roughly 20 days before fight night. According to his tweet, Ankalaev entered the 205-pound title fight with a broken rib, which clearly bothered him in the footage.
Checkout the video below:
Sources close to the situation told Guimaraes that some of Ankalaev’s team urged him to withdraw, but the now-former champion insisted on fighting through the pain.
“Magomed Ankalaev fought against Alex Poatan at UFC 320 with a broken rib,” Guimaraes wrote. “Here is the video, in full, showing the injury suffered by the former champion. I confirmed that part of the team tried to prevent the Russian from competing, but the decision was not unanimous. The video was made about 20 days before the fight.”
To make matters worse, Pereira landed multiple heavy elbow shots during the fight, targeting Ankalaev’s injured ribs just seconds before the knockout finish.
Of course, fans weren’t buying the broken rib story.
“Fighters performing with an injury is part of the sport, but how the f—k did he break his rib? Did he spar with Ngannou without gloves?” one fan wrote.
“Here come all of the excuses, everyone could have seen this coming,” another fan wrote.
Ankalaev (19-2-1) entered UFC 320 unbeaten in 12 straight bouts, including notable wins over Pereira, Aleksandar Rakic, and Johnny Walker. Now, with his title gone and his body banged up, the 32-year-old Russian will need to regroup and make another run toward championship contention.
