Preview: Ankalaev vs. Smith
Magomed
Ankalaev checks a lot of boxes.
The surging
Ultimate Fighting Championship light heavyweight contender will
try to take another step toward an elusive title shot when he
clocks in against onetime
Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder
Anthony
Smith in a featured
UFC
277 attraction on Saturday at the American Airlines Center in
Dallas. Ankalaev enters the Octagon on the strength of eight
straight victories—a run of sustained success that now spans more
than four years. He last appeared in the UFC Fight Night 203 main
event, where he took a five-round unanimous decision from
Thiago
Santos on March 12.
As Ankalaev makes final preparations for his forthcoming
confrontation with Smith at 205 pounds, here are five things you
might not know about him:
1. He was spawned by a combat sports hotbed.
Ankalaev was born on June 2, 1992 in Makhachkala, Russia—the
capital and largest city in the Republic of Dagestan. He shares a
hometown with
Muslim
Salikhov, former
M-1 Global
champion
Rashid
Magomedov and current UFC lightweight contender
Islam
Makhachev, among others.
2. Initial impressions were off the charts.
The Gorets Fight Team product holds the Master of Sport designation
in combat sambo. Ankalaev made his professional mixed martial arts
debut at the age of 21, raced out to an 8-0 start and emerged as
one of the top prospects in Europe. Five of his first nine wins
resulted in finishes.
3. His star burned bright on the European regional scene.
Ankalaev captured the vacant World Fighting Championship Akhmat
light heavyweight title on Oct. 4, 2016, when he put away
Maxim
Grishin with punches in the fourth round of their WFCA 30
pairing. He went on to retain the title with a first-round knockout
of
Wagner
Prado before signing with the UFC in 2018.
4. He put himself in rarified air.
The 30-year-old Russian finds himself tied with
Lyoto
Machida for the second-longest winning streak (eight) in the
history of the UFC light heavyweight division. Former champion
Jon
Jones won a record-setting 13 in a row between March 21, 2010
and April 23, 2016.
5. He knows how to pack light.
Ankalaev has fought in seven different countries during his
17-fight career. He has gone 8-0 in his native Russia, 3-0 in the
United States, 2-0 in the United Arab Emirates, 1-0 in Ukraine, 1-0
in Serbia, 1-0 in the Czech Republic and 0-1 in England.