Magomed Ankalaev offers bleak update on Alex Pereira rematch despite pair verbally agreeing to new date

04/01/2025 01:30 PM

Magomed Ankalaev seems to have all of a sudden lost his confidence in an August rematch with Alex Pereira.

The newly-crowned light-heavyweight champion appeared to have booked in another meeting with Pereira after dethroning the Brazilian at UFC 313 last month. But it now appears that the pair may not be meeting next after all.

Ankalaev won a dominant decision over Pereira in Las Vegas, and was quick to get to work on making a rematch. But it seems that injuries stacked up over a four-fight run over 11 months may be too much for Pereira to make the second fight happen right away.

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Magomed Ankalaev offers grim update on Alex Pereira rematch

Since the fight last month, there have been question marks about Alex Pereira’s performance even against a tough test like Magomed Ankalaev. Joe Rogan made the claim that the champion was injured and sick heading into it, which was somewhat confirmed after the fact.

As a result, it seems clear that Pereira has some injuries and issues to work through before he can fight again. And Ankalaev seems to reckon that it’s going to cause an issue that will stop them fighting again as soon as initially planned.

Taking to X and writing in English, despite not speaking the language, Ankalaev said: “I have a feeling you don't want the rematch after I agreed to August.”

Alex Pereira accepted Magomed Ankalaev’s plan for summer rematch

Despite the supposed injuries, Pereira accepted Ankalaev’s offer to fight again in August with relatively little concern. He quickly answered the call by mocking his rival for allegedly having his manager write his tweets, replying: “Let's go Ali (Abdelaziz). Chama,"

With regards his injuries and illness, Pereira remained relatively coy during a recent appearance on the Ariel Helwani Show. "I'm not trying to take anything away from Ankalaev, many people try to do that type of thing, I'm not this type of guy," Pereira said.

"Everyone goes through their own problems, I'm sure he had his own problems too. My hand is fine, but there are a lot of things that happened, but I'm not using them as excuses. I'm not trying to use this as leverage for anything. My moment will come when I win the belt, and then I'll disclose everything.

“Yes, [I considered withdrawing]…I don't regret it because I've motivated a lot of people. And anytime I've pushed through things, I was able to overcome. Many times it worked, but this time it wasn't my moment. No regrets."