Alex
Pereira believes he can hold his own on the ground against
Magomed
Ankalaev.
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Pereira puts his light heavyweight title on the line against
Ankalaev in the main event at UFC 313
on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Many expect it to
be the toughest test yet for Pereira, who hasn’t faced a grappler
of Ankalaev’s caliber in the
UFC. However, “Poatan” promises to display his wrestling
skills, which he has been honing under the tutelage of his friend
and mentor, former champ Glover
Teixeira.
Pereira recently posted a video of himself grappling with Teixeira
in the snow. Ankalaev, who sounds supremely confident going into
the fight, wondered aloud in the comments whether Pereira could do
that for five rounds. Responding to Ankalaev, Pereira retorted back
with the same question. Pereira believes if Ankalaev can’t grapple
him for 25 minutes, the fight will take place on the feet, where
the Brazilian expects to have a massive advantage.
“Let’s see if he can stand for 25 minutes,” Pereira told New York Post Sports. “If he can’t grapple me for 25
minutes, then he’s gonna have to stand up. And we all know how
that’s gonna go. Obviously I didn’t focus a lot on grappling before
I moved to the U.S. But I’ve been in the U.S. now for about four
years, training with Glover and really focused on that and really
dedicated on that. So I think this is a fight that’s gonna bring
that out and make me show everyone what I can do with my
grappling.”
Pereira won the title against Jiri
Prochazka in November 2023 and has since defended it three
times within the span of a year. Meanwhile, Ankalaev is unbeaten in
13 UFC outings since his lone pro loss against Paul Craig
in his promotional debut in 2018.