It may come as a surprise, but UFC light heavyweight title challenger Magomed Ankalaev, set to face Alex Pereira at UFC 313 in Las Vegas this Saturday, was not much of an athlete as a child.
That came later, first with Sambo, and then with mixed martial arts. Speaking with Cageside Press ahead of his title bid at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Ankalaev (19-1-1, 1NC) explained that life itself led him to where he is today.
“I can say that sort of my life led me to sports. I got into Sambo and I saw that I was doing good in it, I was improving in it. And slowly, step-by-step, I became a fighter,” said Ankalaev, who really doesn’t seem to have had another path in life. “I didn’t know who else I could be, so I decided to be a fighter.”
UFC 313 marks Magomed Ankalaev’s second shot at UFC gold. The first came in a disappointing bout against Jan Blachowicz in December of 2022 that ended in a draw, and was widely panned by fans and even UFC CEO and President Dana White. The title, vacated by the injured Jiri Prochazka, remained vacant, and would later be won by Jamahal Hill.
Ankalaev has been waiting for, and working towards, another shot at gold ever since.
“It is what it is. That is the past,” the Dagestani contender observed. “We missed that opportunity in the past, but now this is a whole new thing, it’s a whole new goal, new opportunity, and we’re going to do whatever we can to make sure that this one, we don’t let it go.”
In stark contrast to Blachowicz, Alex Pereira is coming off a Fighter of the Year-winning campaign in 2025. He’s skyrocketed to stardom in the UFC, becoming one of promotion’s biggest stars and winning titles in two weight classes in the process. Ankalaev is more than aware of all that, but feels he poses a different sort of threat.
“We’re obviously not underestimating and not belittling all the accomplishments that he has, he’s a great fighter. But he’s only fought strikers, he’s only been in there with the strikers, and I’m a different type of fighter,” Ankalaev stated. “I’m a striker, I’m a good striker but I can also wrestle with the best of them. So it’s going to be a whole different fight for him.”
UFC 313 takes place this Saturday, March 8, 2025 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check out our full interview with light heavyweight title challenger Magomed Ankalaev above.
