Magomed
Ankalaev’s coach, Sukhrab Magomedov, claims that Alex
Pereira might have been greasing in their light heavyweight
championship fight.
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Magomedov was cornering Ankalaev when he dethroned Pereira via
unanimous decision at UFC 313
earlier this month. According to Magomedov, Pereira seemed greased
up with something when Ankalaev was grappling with him on the
fence.
Magomedov believes it could have been the kind of grease fighters
use during sparring sessions to make it difficult to grab a hold of
them. He also thinks it could be a kind of ointment used in weight
cuts to clog the sweat. Magomedov also claims Ankalaev smelled some
kind of ointment and the Brazilian’s hair also felt sticky.
Magomedov also indicated that Pereira’s long-term coach and mentor,
Glover
Teixeira, is savvy with such tricks.
“When Magomed pushed him to the fence near our corner, it seemed to
me that Pereira was greased with something,” Magomedov said
Ushatayka (translation via Red Corner MMA). “It happens — fighters
get greased up for sparring sessions. Or when they’re cutting
weight they use some ointment, the way it goes the sweat doesn’t
flow off, but jells up. And that’s what it looked like to me on his
body, too. Magomed also said afterwards that [Pereira] smelled like
he had some ointment and had something in his hair, as it was
sticky… Plus, I think Texeira is really experienced in stuff like
that.”
Pereira defended his light heavyweight title three times before
losing it to Ankalaev. Meanwhile, Ankalaev is unbeaten in 14
consecutive outings since suffering his lone pro loss in his UFC
debut in 2018.