This past Saturday Magomed Ankalaev came out victorious against Johnny Walker in the main event of UFC Las Vegas 84. The Russian fighter stopped Walker in the second round with a right hook – uppercut. According to MMA analyst and former fighter himself, Chael Sonnen, this win could potentially serve Ankalaev in his campaign for a UFC light heavyweight title.
The anchor point for Sonnen to the entire situation was Ankalaev’s post-fight interview, during which the Russian fighter called out the reigning champion and warned his coach:
Sonnen pointed out, that Glover Teixeira has indeed responded to this challenge on behalf of his pupil:
“Here’s my point – Ankalaev is awesome. But Ankalaev is now called out Alex Pereira. Glover Teixeira has accepted the fight… We will see you next.”
One can’t argue with Sonnen, as Ankalaev’s record of 19-1-1, 1 NC put him on the top of the division. Additionally, his amateur record, which in Russia can mean anything such as being stacked up from fights that don’t feel like in the modern idea of MMA, gives him another eight victories. That’s a lot, 27 in total. So it comes as no surprise that Magomed Ankalaev could be seen as a threat, and that’s why, in Sonnen’s mind, he came with an offer for the titleholder:
“So Ankalaev comes out with the deal. And the deal is, I’ll make the same deal with you, Alex Pereira, that I made with Johnny Walker. Which is only stand-up. I’ll never take you to the ground. I’m great on my feet, Johnny has just found out. I hit harder than Israel Adesanya. And we’re gonna fight on our feet.”
On paper, it’s a golden opportunity for Alexander Pereira, a renowned kickboxer and GLORY Kickboxing two-division champion and a member of promotion’s Hall of Fame, as it would seem as he has the upper hand in striking aspects of fighting. Next to his stellar kickboxing record, seven of nine of his MMA wins came by way of either TKO or KO. And let’s not forget that he’s the only man to beat Israel Adesanya, an outstanding striker in his own right – in both kickboxing and MMA.
On the other hand, despite his top-level grappling, Ankalev stopped all of his ten opponents with some form of striking – either knocking them down or dishing them out punishment on the ground. Ankalev is confident in his striking and it’s sure that he could fight fire with fire. The difference lies in the grappling department, where Pereira has still a lot to learn. And Sonnen sees that too. But he sees a problem in fact, that the fight could be difficult to promote for UFC.
Why? Because in one scenario Pereira would accept the fight if he agreed to keep it standing, exposing him as a weak grappler. In other scenarios, he would be exposed as a one-dimension fighter:
“Hey, Alex Pereira, I’ll fight you, I’m next. The rankings say I’m next. I say I’m next. Your coach said, that I’m next. I’m only gonna to stand up with you. I’m gonna test your chin, and you’re free to test mine. I will never take you to the ground. We’re gonna fight for the mixed martial arts championship, but we’re gonna do it purely in standing – sign here. But the adverse side of this ,,, Hey, Alex Pereira, you can only fight stand up. I’ve seen you on the ground and it’s sucks… And I’m gonna to expose you for the fraud that you are, which is nothing more than glorified kickboxer. Grappling rules the octagon.. I’m gonna take that belt and I’m gonna hit you in the head with it. That would be a adverse. Which one sounds more like a fight promotion to you? “
However, it looks like Pereira is now more focused on his potential fight against Jamah Hill than Ankalaev’s call-out:
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