Newly-minted light heavyweight champion, Magomed Ankalaev has confimed his plans to return to action as soon as later this summer, however, has claimed he open to facing an opponent other than Alex Pereira, who believes is “never coming back” to the Octagon.
Ankalaev, who headlines UFC 313 against the Brazilian back in March, finally broke through and landed the light heavyweight crown with a contentious split decision win over Pereira in the pair’s heated grudge match in Las Vegas, Nevada.
And in the time since, the duo have been linked with an immediate title rematch, potentially as soon as later this summer. But to boot, a potential re-run has hit the skids in recent weeks, with Ankalaev boldly claiming Pereira has already decided to hang up his gloves and end his career in combat sports.
Magomed Ankalaev eyes summer return against new challenger
To boot, this week, the Russian has once more echoed those claims — suggesting he would return toward the end of the summer, and against a challenger other than the former two-division champion.
“Alex (Pereira) [is] done,” Magomed Ankalaev posted on his official X account over the weekend. “He [is] never coming back, let’s move on. June, July, August, I said yes.”
To boot, last month, reports detailed how Pereira was initially targeted to headline UFC 317 at the end of this month, however, he was unable to make the date for the International Fight Week card on such short notice once more.
As a result, the promotion will host a vacant lightweight title fight on that same flagship card, with Ilia Topuria set to face off with former undisputed champion, Charles Oliveira.
“According to what I’m hearing, Magomed Ankalaev was accurate with what he tweeted,” Ariel Helwani posted on X. “The UFC did in fact call Alex Pereira for the rematch with Ankalaev on International Fight Week.”
