“I hope you’re ready to do this for 25 minutes.” That’s the ominous warning Magomed Ankalaev sent Alex Pereira ahead of their UFC 313 showdown. Sounds like a classic grappler’s threat, right? Well, not exactly. This isn’t the usual Dagestani narrative. No relentless chain wrestling. No Khabib-esque suffocation. Instead, Ankalaev, often mistaken for a wrestling-heavy fighter, is looking to strike with Pereira. Yes, you read that correctly. But how much sense does that make against one of the most devastating kickboxers in UFC history?

Turns out, we might have been boxing Ankalaev into a category he doesn’t belong to. Speaking on Submission Radio, Dan Hardy bluntly put it, “It might just be our ignorance and assumptions as MMA fans… we go, ‘Oh, well, he’s from Dagestan, so he’s definitely going to wrestle.’”

But the reality? “He’s a striker. He doesn’t train with Khabib and the heavy wrestling crew. I mean, first of all, he’s a lot bigger than those guys anyway, but the vast majority of his game is based on his striking, and he is a very, very good striker. So I feel in his mind, taking this fight to the ground is secondary. I think that’s a narrative that we have associated with this fight, oh well, because Ankalaev is going to be the one that takes him down because he’s from Dagestan.”, the former MMA fighter and analyst said.

So, let’s address the elephant in the room, if this Dagestani isn’t coming in with a wrestling-heavy approach, is he really Pereira’s toughest test to date? For all the talk about his ground skills, the stats don’t lie. Ankalaev has never won a fight by submission. His takedown accuracy? A modest 31%. For context, that’s significantly lower than Jan Błachowicz, who managed to take Pereira down in their fight but still couldn’t keep him there. And let’s not forget Pereira has only been taken down nine times in his entire UFC career. If the Russian challenger is banking on wrestling as his golden ticket, he might want to rethink his strategy.

But if wrestling isn’t the ace up his sleeve, then what is? Could his striking, size, and power be enough to dismantle Pereira’s kickboxing arsenal? That’s exactly where former champion Michael Bisping sees the real battle taking place.

Can Magomed Ankalaev neutralize the champ’s striking?

Michael Bisping, never one to hold back, had his own spicy take on the matchup. “When you look at Ankalaev, the power he brings, and his size, I don’t think he’s the kickboxer Pereira is. Pereira is far, far better on the feet—slicker, faster, more experienced…” So, case closed? Not quite. ‘The Count’ then threw in a curveball, “I do believe Magomed Ankalaev can neutralize many of Pereira’s advantages.”

That’s an interesting take, considering Ankalaev has publicly dismissed Pereira’s striking as ‘overrated.’ But if there’s one thing that isn’t overrated, it’s Poatan’s ability to separate opponents from their consciousness. We’ve seen him dismantle elite strikers, and despite making his MMA transition just a few years ago, he’s racked up more title defenses than anyone else (barring Daniel Cormier at 3) apart from Jon Jones in the division.

Pereira’s confidence isn’t blind faith either. The Brazilian has been sharpening his takedown defense, even posting a clip of him drilling it in the snow with Glover Teixeira. Ankalaev’s response? That now-famous 25-minute warning. But if Ankalaev actually plans to strike for 25 minutes, those odds start looking pretty grim for him. For a fight that was initially billed as a striker vs. grappler clash, it’s starting to look more like a ‘striker vs. a striker-who-can-wrestle-but-mostly-strikes’ affair.

Sure, Ankalaev has the ability to take Pereira down, but will he commit to it? Or will he let pride take over and try to outstrike the most decorated kickboxer in the division?

The beauty of this matchup is that it defies expectations. We assume fighters fit into neatly labeled categories, but MMA is never that simple. What do you think? If Ankalaev chooses to wrestle, can he actually keep Pereira down? And if he stands and trades, will we be looking at another brutal highlight reel KO from ‘Poatan’? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!