Passed over by himself UFC, Magomed Ankalaev didn’t like what he said at all Alex Poatan Pereira about dropping down a category after the defeat of Israel Adesanya to Dricus Du Plessis.
The Brazilian was rooting for the Nigerian at UFC 305, who was also his main rival in the middleweight division, and was not happy to see him losing to the South African. Jokingly, he hinted that he would return to his old division to take the belt from Du Plessis.
In light of this, Ankalaev, who had been begging for the chance to challenge Poatan’s light heavyweight title, once again showed his displeasure and accused the current champion of being a coward.
“Alex Pereira is the biggest chicken in the UFC. He challenges middleweight guys who weigh 18 kilos less than him. I’m the only guy whose name he doesn’t even mention,” said the Russian on his X profile (formerly Twitter).
This, however, is not true. Poatan himself admitted to having an interest in facing Magomed in the Octagon, but the organization had other plans for the two; Anlakaev will fight Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308, while the Brazilian will headline UFC 307 against Khalil Rountree.
“I promise I’ll take care of my business in October and I’ll knock him out in less than two rounds,” he teased.
The Russian was seen as the next in line to challenge for Alex Pereira’s belt, as he is ranked second. But the chance was passed to Rountree, who is ranked eighth and has just returned from a suspension for failing a doping test.
Du Plessis also reacted to Poatan’s speech
Ankalaev wasn’t the only one who was bothered by Poatan’s joke. After defending his belt for the first time, Dricus Du Plessis didn’t like the supposed challenge from the former division champion.
“I don’t think Alex Pereira should go down to middleweight, but if he wants to, great. We saw Adesanya knock this guy out in the first round. If he knocks you out like that, you don’t want to be in there with me,” said the South African during the press conference after UFC 305.
Dricus also took the opportunity to remember that Sean Strickland will be the next challenger for his belt, as he is ranked number one in the division, and provoked Poatan for his next title defense being against someone ranked number eight.
“Make your fight against the eighth-ranked guy. Strickland is the next fight people want to see. Let me take care of my business, you take care of yours. You don’t have to cut weight, I’ll move up [para os meio-pesados] after the fight with Strickland and we will resolve this”, he promised.