Alex Pereira has been grilled by Magomed Ankalaev for the past few days. This is apparent because Pereira claimed that the fighter did not want to fight with him. People were astonished that the 2 ranked 205 lbs division fighter was not the obvious matchup, and Khalil Rountree Jr was chosen instead. The fans were enraged that the Dagestani was not selected. However, ‘Poatan’ claimed that the fighter was the one who refused to fight. Ankalaev recently revealed that this is a lie so who is telling the truth?

They have not stopped their feud and social media is abuzz with the fighters arguing about the matchup. Here is the latest development.

Magomed Ankalaev says that Alex Pereira is a liar

He posted on X stating, “@AlexPereiraUFC can you please tell me which fight I did not accept to fight with you? I’m going to KO Rakic and after I will expose you, especially your chin because you have a weak one.” He also mentioned that he would be fighting Pereira and attacking his chin.

Magomed Ankalaev is going to face Aleksandar Rakic just three weeks after Pereira defends his UFC heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree Jr at UFC307. The Brazilian fighter had posted a video on his YouTube channel claiming that he expected to face the Russian but apparently, the latter did not want to fight him. It did not take long for Ankalaev to retaliate and take onto social media and refute these claims saying that he was not offered an opportunity by the UFC CEO.

“I don’t know the reason if it was the location if he didn’t want to fight,” Pereira said of Ankalaev in his video. However, the Dagestani fighter’s team refuted these claims and denied profusely about not accepting the fight. Even Ali Abdelaziz denied these rumors and said that Ankalaev was ready.  The Dagestani had indeed refused to fight against Pereira at UFC 300 because it was just three days after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan ended. The fighter had fasted for an entire month and was not physically fit to join a professional fight or even train at the camp.

However, for UFC 307, he claimed that he was not offered the matchup and did not refuse anything. Abdelaziz even tweeted recently that his fighter was not offered this matchup by UFC. “Just to be clear the UFC never offered a fight to Magomed Ankalaev against Alex Perreira, this is one thing I’m 100% certain about,” the manager wrote.

Ankalaev’s next fight and plans

Anaklaev will face #5 ranked Aleksandar Rakic on the UFC 308  And even the UFC boss has said that everything is dependent on timing. He had revealed that the matchup between the Brazilian and Russian fighters was not created due to scheduling problems. However, it is clear that Ankalaev is eager to fight ‘Poatan’. He has vowed to make his opponent eat his own words but ultimately who is right?

Pereira is best on his feet and Ankalaev also likes to fight on his feet. Yet, the latter can also handle himself on the ground and during grappling and this is a weakness for Pereira. On the other hand, the light heavyweight champ has never lied about his prospects or disrespected other fighters.

However, it is safe to say that both fighters seem to be interested in a matchup. If Dana White was the one to not make this happen, then it is time to make this matchup a reality because they are already fighting outside the octagon as it is. Do you think this matchup will happen?