Magomed Ankalaev made a ‘remarkably bad idea’ weeks before Alex Pereira fight at UFC 320

It was not long after Alex Pereira’s all-time great battering of Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 on Saturday, the 4th of October, when theories as to why the Brazilian was able to go through the Russian like a hot knife through butter emerged.

Pereira had previously enjoyed a generational run beating the likes of Sean Strickland, Israel Adesanya, and Jiri Prochazka (twice) en route to two-weight UFC championship status, yet Ankalaev put a halt to that earlier this year, on the 8th of March, when he convincingly defeated Pereira by decision.

For many, repeat rather than revenge was expected when the 205-pound rivals collided for a second time at the T-Mobile Arena. Yet what transpired reminded the MMA industry that Pereira is a true combat superstar, as he obliterated Ankalaev in just 80 seconds. Video footage which surfaced online on the 6th of October suggests Ankalaev made a collosal mistake heading into the Pereira fight — and it’s one that may have proved to be as costly as it gets.

Magomed Ankalaev Took Ridiculous Injury Into Alex Pereira Fight

Pereira’s beatdown of Ankalaev was so fast, ruthless, and one-sided that he landed 28 of his 45 strikes — all of which were deemed to be significant — all the while limiting Ankalaev to a mere four strikes landed from nine thrown. Pereira’s work was not unblemished, though, as he left the arena nursing a broken foot.

But, while Pereira walked away from the fight with an injury, it was apparently Ankalaev who headed into the bout with one — and it was no less painful. This is because one reporter on X posted video footage which appears to show Ankalaev was suffering from a broken rib just weeks before fight night.

The reporter, Leo Guimaraes, said the footage was from 20 days before the fight. He said: “I confirmed that part of the team tried to prevent the Russian from competing, but the decision was not unanimous.”

This means that some members of Ankalaev’s still deemed him fighting fit and able to compete against Pereira.

This decision did not go down well with industry-leading expert, Luke Thomas, who said:

He continued: “I’m going to assume the commission didn’t know, but certainly his inner circle did. Sending him out there in this condition, especially Pereira, is begging for catastrophe.”

The UFC is in the middle of a hot run in October and returns on the 11th of the month with a Fight Night event from Rio de Janeiro, as Charles Oliveira takes on Mateusz Gamrot in the headliner.

The following week, in another Fight Night main event, Renier de Ridder collides with Brendan Allen. And then, on the 25th of October, Tom Aspinall defends his UFC heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321 in the Etihad Arena, Abu Dhabi.