New UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev is the type of guy to make a statement without saying anything, as was the case coming out of UFC 313.
Ankalaev claimed the 205-pound title from Alex Pereira this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. In a somewhat surprising performance, Ankalaev mostly ignored his wrestling while out-striking Pereira over the course of five rounds to earn a unanimous decision win.
In the buildup to UFC 313, Pereira was the popular pick to win among UFC fighters and pundits. Now, with the victory in his pocket, Ankalaev made sure to show the receipts of the big names who predicted he’d lose – among them Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, Alexander Volkanovski, Max Holloway, Robert Whittaker, Michael Bisping, and Henry Cejudo, whom he tagged in a video on X.
“Sorry guys I disappointed you,” Ankalaev wrote with a smiling face emoji.
Ankalaev, 32, hasn’t lost since his UFC debut in 2018, going 14 fights without a defeat. His run does include one no contest (against Johnny Walker due to an illegal knee) and one draw against Jan Blachowicz in a vacant title fight in December 2022.
It’s possible the UFC fighters Ankalaev called out will get a chance to pick the Pereira fight again as Dana White said it would “probably” make sense to do a rematch after UFC 313.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 313.
