Now one of the biggest stars in mixed martial arts, Alex Pereira returned to action for his first fight of 2025 as he took on Magomed Ankalaev in Saturday’s UFC 313 main event.
After three successful title defenses in 2024, light heavyweight champ Pereira was looking to build on a campaign that earned him Fighter of the Year honors. As for Ankalaev, it was a second chance at gold and an opportunity to erase the memory of his draw against Jan Blachowicz in 2022, where neither man came away with the championship.
Pereira was his typical stoic self, stone-faced ahead of the fight, while Ankalaev paced side to side in his corner. Once the bout was underway, it was Pereira walking down the challenger, firing a kick. Ankalaev worked his way off the fence, but he was eating leg kicks early. Four or five in the opening minute along landed for the champ. Ankalaev fired a low kick of his own back, but through the first two minutes, had landed little of consequence, and hadn’t attempted a takedown.
Things opened up as the round progressed, with both men loading up a little but missing on their biggest strikes. Ankalaev’s lead leg, however, was looking beat- welts had formed, though he fired an inside leg kick of his own at the champ. Ankalaev finished the round landing a front kick down the middle, then moving in for a takedown – his first attempt, and one that the champ successfully defended.
Magomed Ankalaev pressed the action early in round two, but at the same time was coping with a compromised lead leg, switching stances briefly. A front kick to the body, similar to one in the opening frame, landed for Ankalaev; Pereira ripped a kick upstairs. Ankalaev started going tit-for-tat with his leg kicks, and got back on pressuring the champ. Another head kick by the champ was blocked, and Ankalaev responded with a couple of very solid left hands. Ankalaev was starting to open up, showing he could hang with the kickboxer on the feet, despite something of a slow start. A trio of calf kicks from Pereira compounded the damage on an already compromised leg, but Ankalaev again found some success upstairs- and at the end of the round, rocked Pereira! Pereira walked back to his corner after eating that left hand, but no question, he had been wobbled.
Round three was the third straight frame to see Ankalaev land his front kick to the body. Pereira, for the time being at least, appeared to have recovered from the assault at the end of round two. Still, Ankalaev was having ample success with his kicks, and pressure, walking down the champ. When Ankalaev changed levels and rushed in on a takedown, Pereira easily side-stepped the attempt.
Things popped off a bit with 90 seconds left in the third, with a brief exchange of fire, Pereira arguably getting the better of it.
Following a close third frame, Ankalaev took the champ to the fence to start round four. Pereira got one underhook, briefly, while Ankalaev worked the body. What the Dagestani could not do was get the champ down, and the crowd let him know it, hecking and jeering the change in pace, cheering when Pereira broke free, then booing as Ankalaev went back in on another takedown attempt. After another 30 seconds of action that was anything but fan-pleasing, ref Marc Goddard separated the pair. Pereira landed another leg kick, Ankalaev went to the body, and the challenger landed a left up top. Ankalaev then drove Pereira into the fence again, as the champ fired a weak left hand. “Poatan” continued to fight off the takedown attempts, but that wasn’t winning him the round.
The final round opened with Ankalaev arguably in control, though the close nature of the first and third made that anything but certain. The pair traded single blows, Pereira a left, Ankalaev an answer to the body. The first half of the round played out entirely at range in the stand-up department, an outright puzzling approach from the challenger after having so much success grappling in round four. A Pereira jab landed flush on Ankalaev, whose head snapped back; that led to a takedown attempt from the challenger. He briefly had a bodylock from the back, but Pereira fought the hands, and showed once again that while you might control him, taking Alex Pereira down appeared to be another matter.
Both men raised their arms when the final horn blared. Neither man had a clear cut victory, however. In the end, it was Ankalaev winning on the scorecards in a fight that wasn’t much more memorable than his first title attempt, albeit with a better result. He’s your new UFC light heavyweight champion. “Poatan,” meanwhile, may have to wait a little longer for some of the big money fights out there.
Official Result: Magomed Ankalaev def. Alex Pereira by unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
