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Magomed Ankalaev blames Alex Pereira for a main event in the UFC 313 which was light on the action.
During the headlong on Saturday in T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Ankalaev won a unanimous victory over Pereira to claim the UFC Light Heavyweight championship. Ankalaev’s methodical victory contrasts strongly with the fireworks observed in the previous fights of the Pereira title, which aroused criticism from their colleagues and fans.
Ankalaev defended his tactics at the press conference after the evening’s fight, putting the burden on “Poatan” so as not to get involved.
“It was very different from what we are considering because, as you know, Pereira hunts on arrival,” said Ankalaev via a Russian translator. “He advances, he tries to track down his opponents for the arrival.
“Here it was very different, as you can see. He was fleeing to me, he didn’t let me work and he was not really working, so you saw the way it happened. “”
The winning scores of the championship for Ankalaev were a pair of 48-47 and a 49-46, with several of the rounds seeming to be launchers (MMA Fighting marked the 48-47 competition for Pereira). In the opinion of Ankalaev, the result has never been questioned, and he once again stressed what he perceived as hesitant on the part of Pereira as to the reason why no one should complain about the result.
“I was confident,” said Ankalaev. “I continued to move forward, I continued to put it pressure and he continued to flee me. For 20 minutes, this guy was fleeing to me. Then I heard at the end of the fight, he said that he did not know why the victory was given to me. Who is supposed to have the victory? I pressed him all the time, he had been running for 20 minutes, then he wonders who is supposed to win the victory?
“Listen, I’m happy for a revenge match if he wants a revenge match. But maybe in the revenge match, he can fight for real and not just run away all the time. »»
A widespread account before the main event on Saturday was the possibility that Ankalaev uses an attack focused on the fight to stifle the explosive strike from Pereira. Although Ankalaev failed to get a withdrawal from the competition (it was 0 for 12 during attempted withdrawal according to the official UFC statistics), he was able to neutralize Pereira against the fence several times.
Ankalaev was not surprised by the defense of Pereira’s struggle, and it was not surprised that he won the fight on his feet.
“He was considered the best striker in the division on the way to this fight,” said Ankalaev. “This is what everyone was talking about, the story was that he is the best. You saw what kind of best attacker he was in the fight. You saw how well we did against the strike and how our strike worked.
“We did not have to count on the fight because we were confident in our strike. We were trying to do it before all the time, that’s what we bait, that’s what we were trying to push, and he never advanced. »»
Before the match, Ankalaev said that he would grant Pereira and an immediate revenge match after their fight and that he had not changed his air now that he won the victory. UFC Dana White said at the press conference after the fight, it expects a revenge match to happen.
Ankalaev will wait for the call.
“Yes, I never choose my opponents, so I’m very happy and ready for revenge,” said Ankalaev. “Whenever UFC offers it, we will see what is the date, we will be happy to accept it.”
