This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC 320, the light heavyweight title was on the line. Magomed Ankalaev (21-2-1, 1 NC) was looking to defend his title for the first time against the man he took it from in former champion Alex “Poatan” Pereira (13-3).
In their first fight, Ankalaev did a great job of fighting with forward pressure and he never really allowed Pereira the opportunity to move forward. We know that Pereira fights much better with pressure than he does off the back foot. After their first fight, Pereira talked about not being close to 100% entering the fight.
Admittedly, I’m a huge Poatan fan. I mean, how could you not be? That said, I just felt like Ankalaev was going to be too much for him in the rematch. Ankalaev has shown the striking ability to be able to stand with Pereira and he can mix in wrestling to keep Pereira guessing. I didn’t think Pereira was as compromised as he said he was in the first fight.
Boy, was I wrong. Pereira came out like a bat out of hell in the rematch. He marched right forward and showed Ankalaev absolutely no respect on the feet. He never let Ankalaev get comfortable and then he blasted Ankalaev with a massive overhand right.
Ankalaev dove for a desperation takedown that Pereira defended with ease. He got on top and started raining down shots until the fight was stopped. Less than 90 seconds into the first round, Magomed Ankalaev’s UFC title run came to an end.
What’s next after UFC 320?
If Pereira and Ankalaev had an extremely close second fight that was an absolute war with Pereira winning, you could easily make the argument for a third fight between the two. The first fight was really close with many in the media, including myself, scoring the fight for Pereira.
Had they had a second fight just like that, I think a third fight would be warrented. However, many think Pereira won the first fight despite being compromised and then in the second fight when he said he was 100%, he completely dismantled Magomed Ankalaev and made him look like he didn’t belong.
It was truly shocking to see what happened at UFC 320. Magomed Ankalaev had won career loss heading into Saturday night and it was literally a last-second submission loss to Paul Craig. In that fight, Ankalaev dominated until getting caught in that triangle choke.
Alex Pereira ran through a guy who was one second away from being undefeated through 24 professional fights. After this lopsided loss, Ankalaev is going to have to go back to the drawing board. Considering Poatan’s desire to move up to heavyweight, I don’t think you’ll ever see a rematch between these two.
That said, I do believe Ankalaev will fight for the title again one day and don’t rule him out in terms of regaining the UFC light heavyweight title. In terms of what’s next for him, I think it all depends on what happens with the title.
If Pereira stays at 205, I think he should face Carlos Ulberg next. While I think Jiri Prochazka is the more exciting fight, they’ve already fought twice and Ulberg would be a fresh opponent. In that scenario, I would say that Ankalaev and Prochazka would be the perfect fight especially considering their beef.
Should the UFC go with the more exciting challenger and give the next shot to Prochazka, I think Ankalaev and Carlos Ulberg would be a tremendous matchup.
If Pereira moves up to heavyweight, perhaps he has to vacate the title which would allow Prochazka and Ulberg to fight for the vacant title. In that scenario, maybe you look to run back the fight between Ankalaev and Jan Blachowicz that ended in a draw back in 2022.
Either way, Ankalaev is still right in the mix despite his lopsided loss on Saturday night. I also expect him to try and fight sooner than later after this one-sided loss.
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