LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 08: Magomed Ankalaev of Russia reacts after a unanimous-decision victory … [+] against Alex Pereira of Brazil in the UFC light heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 313 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 08, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
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The new UFC light heavyweight champion was dismissive of the former champ following his win in the main event of UFC 313. In that matchup, Magomed Ankalaev took the title from the feared Alex Pereira with a unanimous decision win in a contest that saw Ankalaev do an excellent job of neutralizing Pereira’s striking.
“It (the fight) was very different from what we envisioned because usually Pereira hunts for the finish. He moves forward. He tries to hunt down his opponents for the finish. Here it was very different,” Ankalaev said through an interpreter at the UFC 313 post-fight press conference. “As you could see, he was running away from me. He wouldn’t let me work, and he himself wasn’t really working much, so, you saw the way it played out.”
How it played out was that Ankalaev threw and landed more significant strikes than Pereira over the course of the 25-minute battle. The new champ attempted 180 significant strikes and landed 94 of those. Meanwhile, Pereira went 76 for 137 in significant strikes. As for overall strikes, Ankalaev landed 127 of 224 to Pereira’s 97 of 159. The judges awarded the fight to Ankalaev by scores of 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.
When asked if he felt he had done enough to get his hand raised in victory, Ankalaev said he did while reiterating that he felt Pereira was running from him.
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 08: (L-R) Magomed Ankalaev of Russia punches Alex Pereira of Brazil in the … [+] UFC light heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 313 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 08, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
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“I was confident,” Ankalaev said. “I kept on moving forward. I kept on pressuring him, and he kept on running away from me. For 20 minutes, this guy was running away from me. Then I heard at the end of the fight that he was saying he wasn’t sure why the victory was given to me. Who are they supposed to give the victory to? I was pressuring the entire time, and he was running for 20 minutes, and he’s wondering who’s supposed to get the victory?
“Listen, I’m happy for a rematch if he wants a rematch, but maybe the rematch he can fight for real, not just run away the entire time.”
The victory extended Ankalaev’s unbeaten streak to 14 straight fights. The only loss on his MMA record of 21-1-1-1 came in his UFC debut in 2018 when Paul Craig submitted him at the 4:59 mark of Round 3 of their matchup.
Pereira’s record fell to 12-3. He had been 5-0 as a UFC light heavyweight heading into UFC 313, winning his four UFC light heavyweight title fights by knockout. With the victory, Ankalaev became the first fighter to force Pereira to the five-round limit.
The narrative heading into UFC 313 was that Ankalaev’s best route to victory would be through his wrestling. That aspect of the the newly crowned champion’s game did not come into play on Saturday, as he went 0 for 12 in takedown attempts.
“You know, he was considered to be the best striker in the division on the way to this fight, that’s what everybody was talking about,” said Ankalaev. “The narrative was that he was the best. You saw what kind of best striker he was in the fight. You saw how well we did against his striking and how our striking was working. We didn’t have to rely on the wrestling because we were confident in our striking. We were trying to get him to go forward the entire time, we were baiting him, we were trying to push. He never walked forward.”
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 08: (R-L) Magomed Ankalaev of Russia punches Alex Pereira of Brazil in the … [+] UFC light heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 313 event at T-Mobile Arena on March 08, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
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After Ankalaev took the belt from Pereira, UFC CEO Dana White said an immediate rematch was “probably” in the cards for the two. Ankalaev addressed that possibility as well.
“I never picked my opponents, so I’m very much happy and ready for a rematch,” Ankalaev said. “Whenever the UFC offers it to us, we’ll see what the date is, and we’ll be happy to accept it.”
Ankalaev has opened as the betting favorite in that potential rematch.
UFC 313 took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, March 8. The PPV card streamed on ESPN+ following prelims on ESPN and early prelims on ESPN+.
