Alex Pereira branded as a 'liar' for recent comments regarding surprising upcoming UFC 307 title defense
08/26/2024 06:47 AM
Alex Pereira’s next light heavyweight title defense coming against Khalil Rountree Jr at UFC 307 came as a massive surprise to the MMA world as Magomed Ankalaev seemed guaranteed to be the next contender.
After going on a 12-fight unbeaten streak, Magomed Ankalaev seemed certain to have secured himself a light heavyweight title shot, especially considering the fact that Alex Pereira has already beaten rank one and three in the division.
Despite that, UFC CEO Dana White recently announced that ‘Poatan’ would defend against fellow kickboxer, Khalil Rountree Jr at UFC 307 on October 5.
Alex Pereira branded a liar for claiming that Magomed Ankalaev didn’t want to fight at UFC 307
The Russian contender has been extremely vocal on social media as of late, constantly campaigning for the 205lb title shot but to no avail.
The 37-year-old champion, though, has recently claimed that he put Ankalaev’s name forward to the UFC but was told that the 32-year-old didn’t want to fight him.
“A lot of people ask me, I always wanted to fight against Ankalaev. I threw that to the organization. Left it very clear, but Ankalaev didn’t want to fight against me. I don’t know the reason, whether it was the location or if he just didn’t want to,” Pereira claimed in a recent YouTube video.
Despite the champion’s claim, Ankalaev has once again taken to social media to dispute Pereira’s comments, branding the UFC champion as a liar.
“This man is a liar. He’s making stuff up. I’m going to punish him after I handle my business,” Ankalaev stated on X.
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Alex Pereira warned against moving down to middleweight to fight Dricus Du Plessis
Recently at UFC 305, middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis successfully defended his title against Israel Adesanya, which led to Pereira stating he would like to move back down to 185lbs to fight for the title again.
Although the 37-year-old’s next fight is already booked, because of his star power if he successfully defends against ‘War Horse’, the promotion would likely allow him to move back down and fight for a second belt.
Despite that, ‘Poatan’ has been warned against moving back down by former 185lb champion, Robert Whittaker, who believes ‘Stillknocks’ is an extremely tough matchup for the Brazilian.
“Honestly, I don’t think that’s a good fight for him. Also, when you move up to light heavyweight, moving back down is tricky. It would take a lot for him to get back down and Dricus is so strong there,” Whittaker began to explain in an interview with Submission Radio.
“Alex gets hit, okay, and Dricus likes getting hit so it’s hard to see someone with the amount of power to stop Dricus from walking forward into you and Dricus hits hard,” he continued.
