With a title fight on the horizon, Magomed
Ankalaev hasn’t been able to strictly adhere to his normal
religious practices.
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This year, Muslims are observing Ramadan from Feb. 28 through March
29. Part of that observance involves abstaining from food or drink
during that 30-day period from sunrise to sunset. Ankalaev, who
faces Alex
Pereira for the light heavyweight championship in the UFC 313
main event on Saturday, admitted that he had to break his fast
during fight week — but only slightly.
“I have been following the fast strictly except for this week,
where I will have to break it a few times because I need to make
sure I drink water to have a successful weight cut,” Ankalaev told
Ag.Fight. “But apart from that, I started with
Ramadan. I have been fasting. And after the fight, I will obviously
also follow the rules of religion as it has to be.”
The 32-year-old Ankalaev is unbeaten in his last 13 Octagon
appearances and is coming off a 2024 campaign in which he bested
Johnny
Walker and Aleksandar
Rakic. In his previous bid for light heavyweight gold, the
Dagestani battled Jan
Blachowicz to a split draw at UFC 282.
UFC 313 takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The
evening’s main card airs on pay-per-view via ESPN+.