Magomed
Ankalaev ignored his team’s calls for him to pull out of the
Alex
Pereira rematch.

Ankalaev won the
Ultimate Fighting Championship 205-pound title against Pereira
in their first matchup at
UFC 313 in March 2025 in dominant fashion. The Russian then put
his title on the line against Pereira in their immediate rematch at

UFC 320 in October. „Poatan“ knocked out Ankalaev in just 80
seconds to reclaim his strap.

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The Russian has now divulged the obstacles he overcame ahead of the
rematch.

Magomed Ankalaev says health issues led his team to urge him to
withdraw from UFC 320 against Alex Pereira

Ankalaev’s team and his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, claimed that he was
not fully fit going into the rematch against Pereira. Abdelaziz
said that Ankalaev had decided to go ahead with the fight despite
being advised otherwise by his team. Ankalaev recently admitted that he was dealing with health issues
going into UFC 320. The former light heavyweight champion also
reveals that he ignored his advisors when they told him that the
fight could be postponed if he pulled out. Ankalaev paid the price
for his mistake and doesn’t want to relive the memory.

“I had some specific health issues at the time, and I was advised
by many not to even go out, to pull out of the fight, that they
were gonna move it to a later date,” Ankalaev told MMA Junkie. “I
decided that I was well enough to go on; I decided not to listen to
anybody. I made a mistake, and sometimes you have to pay for your
mistake. This has been a long time… I would rather not revisit it
if we can.”

Ankalaev (20-2) was scheduled to return to action against Khalil
Rountree at
UFC Abu Dhabi on July 25. However, Rountree pulled out due to
an injury and has been replaced by Bogdan
Guskov (18-3) on 14 days’ notice.

IMAK ADMIN

By IMAK ADMIN

Internationaler Kampfkunst und Kampfsport Kleinanzeiger