Alex Pereira reveals how Magomed Ankalaev made UFC 313 fight 'Personal' with below the belt comment

03/07/2025 06:03 PM

Set to finally settle his differences at UFC 313, Alex Pereira has described his title fight with arch-rival, Magomed Ankalaev as “personal” — hitting out at the Russian for bringing up his prior battle with alcoholism.

Pereira, a former undisputed middleweight champion, and the current light heavyweight gold holder, returns tomorrow night in the main event of UFC 313.

And attempting to lodge his fourth successful defense of that crown since just April of last year, Sao Paulo star, Pereira takes on the streaking number one ranked contender, Ankalaev.

Most recently headlining UFC 307 at the beginning of last October, Pereira turned in an eventual fourth round knockout win over Khalil Rountree, stopping the Syndicate MMA staple in a brutal back-and-forth.

Alex Pereira hits out at Magomed Ankalaev for “personal” comment

And sharing the stage with Ankalaev overnight at the official pre-fight press conference ahead of UFC 313, Brazilan fan-favorite, Pereira accused the former of crossing a “personal” boundary by bringing up his prior alcoholism in a bid to stoke flames.

“I know that he's (Magomed Ankalaev) been talking a lot,” Alex Pereira told Daniel Cormier. “The only thing I took personal, was that he was talking about alcoholism, because that's not only offending me but my family. Ankalaev said I was just going to UFC events to get drunk and get clout. I took that personal because I beat alcoholism; it's a win in life."

Sharing a tense face-off at last night’s pre-fight ceremonial event, there’s certainly no love lost between the two light heavyweight standouts ahead of UFC 313 this weekend.