Magomed Ankalaev says the first-round knockout he took from Alex Pereira landed hardest at home. In an interview with Bostanov MMA, conducted in Russian, the former UFC light heavyweight champion said losing the belt was brutal for his family and his children, and that watching them go through it is what’s pushing him back toward a title shot.
“I wanted this belt, and I got it. But getting it was easier. Losing it wasn’t that easy,” Ankalaev said. “Honestly, it was very hard.”
He was clear about who felt it. “You could say for my children,” he added, before saying his goal now is to come back stronger and take back what he lost.
The arc is short and ugly. Ankalaev beat Pereira by unanimous decision in the five-round main event of UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena on March 8, 2025, and took the 205-pound title. Then came the rematch, and Pereira finished him in the first round. The 34-year-old has since gotten back in the win column with a finish of Bogdan Guskov.
The rib
Ankalaev isn’t treating the knockout as the final word. He told Bostanov MMA he broke a rib around 20 days before the rematch, and he believes Pereira’s camp knew about it, which he thinks explains why the Brazilian came out firing from the opening bell.
“You could call what happened a lucky punch. That’s how he beat me. I think they knew I had some kind of injury,” he said. “I don’t think any fighter had ever rushed at me like that before.”
That’s his claim, and only his. Nobody on Pereira’s side has backed it up in the source reporting.
Poatan has moved on
A trilogy isn’t coming soon. Pereira vacated the light heavyweight title and went up to heavyweight to chase a third UFC belt in a third weight class. That plan hit a wall when he lost to Ciryl Gane in an interim heavyweight title fight (the interim belt claims another victim), and he’s now scheduled to fight Sergei Pavlovich in December.
So Ankalaev is looking elsewhere, and the name he dropped was Dricus Du Plessis.
“There’s some talk about Dricus Du Plessis,” Ankalaev said. “He wants to move up, and it’s possible they’ll arrange a fight between us. That’s the information we have for now. It’s a good fight for me, and I’m interested in it myself.”
The timing doesn’t line up yet. Du Plessis lost the middleweight title to Khamzat Chimaev last August and rebounded with a win over Kamaru Usman this July. He’s said 205 is on the list, but 185 comes first.
“I want to get my belt back and eventually go up to 205 and go test myself there,” Du Plessis said in a conversation with Sias du Plessis.
Quick take
The family stuff is the most human thing Ankalaev has said in public, and it lands because he said it straight, with no PR gloss. The rib theory is where I get off the bus. Fighters bring injuries into every fight on the card, Pereira has rushed plenty of people who were perfectly healthy, and the idea that Pereira’s camp knew is a tough sell without anybody to back it up. The best line in the interview was the simplest one: “Honestly, I don’t care who I fight right now. I need to fight.” Good. Book him against whoever is next in line at 205 and let Pereira sort out Pavlovich in December.
