With the amount of heat, Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev emanated from their battles on social media, the entire world of mixed martial arts expected that the two would fight in the coming future. It was indeed high time for the light heavyweight champion to face someone with strong grappling skills. And the fighting community believed that Ankalaev was the perfect opponent for ‘Poatan’. However, the UFC seemed to have different plans. 

The announcement of the UFC 307 main event sent a shockwave through the world of combat sports. The poster revealed that it was Khalil Rountree who got the title shot against Pereira at Salt Lake City, on the 5th of October 2024. Needless to say, this wasn’t what most of the fans expected to happen.

As the news began circling through the internet, it found its way to the land of Reddit. Therein, an account made a comparison between Ankalaev and Rountree. The post pointed out how Ankalaev was a better candidate for a title shot. The Russian fighter is on a 10-fight win streak, with 4 wins over ranked fighters. On the other hand, Rountree is on a 6-fight win streak, with just one victory over a ranked contender. On top of that, the light heavyweight rankings also support Ankalaev. The Russian stands in the 2nd spot, while Rountree is ranked #8.

As soon as the post was shared on the social media platform, the fight fans took over the comments section and began to speculate why Dana White didn’t let Pereira fight Ankalaev. Let’s see what the fighting community had to say.

Fight fans speculate why Dana White didn’t let Magomed Ankalaev fight Alex Pereira

It’s not an unknown fact that the grapplers have been dominating the strikers in the lightweight and the welterweight division. Belal Muhammad took control of the welterweight throne by defeating Leon Edwards at UFC 304. The lightweight division, meanwhile, has witnessed Islam Makhachev ruling the throne for quite some time now. And the fight fans seemed to think that White didn’t want the grapplers to have yet another belt. One fan wrote, “Dana saw Belal got the job done and said never again.” Meanwhile, another fan commented, “Dana is like…Islam, Belal….nah bro that’s enough.”

Not too long ago, the man with the hands of stone refused to fight the Russian, claiming that he was a complicated guy. The UFC seemed to take heed and denied Ankalaev of the title shot. Needless to say, it created quite a ruckus in the fighting world as Ankalaev got a fight against Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308. One fan wrote, “One got offered said no, so they moved on to somebody else. Maybe next time kiddo.”

With Pereira as the star of the promotion, some fans seemed to believe that White had to keep him instated as the champ. After all, star factors like Pereira brought in a boatload of money for the promotion. One of the fight fans commented, “They want to make money and their biggest bet is Poatan vs Israel at LHW, Dana ain’t letting Magomed ruin that after his last title fight.” Another fan added, “They know Ankalaev has a good chance of beating Alex , Alex is a ppv draw so they will keep him far away from Ankalaev as long as it’s possible.” One more fan quoted, “Anything to make sure Alex only fights strikers.”

But the frustration was palpable. However, the fans of the Brazilian champ just wanted to see him fight. “Eh, I get the frustration. As a big Pereira fan, I’m just happy to see him fight again. I don’t think Roundtree is necessarily a layup, but we’ll see.”

But what are your thoughts on the matchup between Pereira and Rountree? Do you also believe that Pereira’s fight with ANkalaev would have been better? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.