Manager: Magomed Ankalaev 'should never have fought' at UFC 320 |
Yesterday at 17:00 -
Magomed Ankalaev suffered a devastating knockout loss at UFC 320 and his manager Ali Abdelaziz now claims the fighter was severely compromised heading his rematch with Alex Pereira.
In Saturday's main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Ankalaev lost the UFC light heavyweight title back to Pereira after being finished with strikes just 80 seconds into the opening round. The bout was an immediate rematch following Ankalaev defeating Pereira via unanimous decision at UFC 313 this past March to become champion.
Late Sunday evening, Abdelaziz released a statement on Instagram supporting his fighter and alluded to pre-fight issues that might have affected Ankalaev's performance.
"Alex was the best man on Saturday night," Abdelaziz wrote. "And we take our losses like men. We move on. I don't have any problems with Alex. I respect everything he accomplished.
"There's a lot of things happened with Ankalaev in his camp. But, it's for him to talk about. Not me. And if I need to talk about it, I will talk about it. If it was up to me, he should never have fought due to some things. But he’s a grown man, he makes his own decisions, and he lives by his actions."
Abdelaziz did not divulge exactly what issues Ankalaev may have been dealing with ahead of UFC 320, be they physical, mental, or otherwise, stating that he will leave it to Ankalaev to comment on.
Ankalaev issued his own social media statement following the fight, which can be seen below.
Abdelaziz also acknowledged Pereira recently accusing that the manager of writing all of Ankalaev's social media comments for him.
"Whatever I can do to help him, I will do it," Abdelaziz said. "As long as I don't insult someone's family, religion, or his nation. Everything Ankalaev said on his social media, he approved it. And if I did help him, it was his knowledge."
Prior to Saturday's loss, Ankalaev was on a 14-fight unbeaten streak (including a draw and a no-contest). He had not lost since his UFC debut in 2018.
