Alex Pereira is turning up the temperature ahead of his rematch with Magomed Ankalaev next month.
The two light heavyweights are scheduled to top the UFC 320 card from Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena on October 4 — a bout which comes about seven months removed from their first fight, in which the Russian claimed the organisation’s 205-pound title from Pereira via five-round unanimous decision.
The fight between the two non-English speakers has mostly bubbled under the surface in the build-up but has been marked by several barbs issued by Ankalaev on social media towards his opponent.
But faced with a situation where they may have come face-to-face at the UFC Performance Institute in Vegas, Pereira said that his rival was keen to ensure that they didn’t meet face-to-face.
“Something funny happened just now when I was leaving the PI,” Pereira announced (via translation) on his YouTube channel, as noted by MMA Junkie.
“I saw Ankalaev’s coach there. I stayed to myself, I didn’t see Ankalaev there. And the funny thing is, when I left the PI, when I got into my car, someone from my team was still inside and he heard the girl from the PI say to Ankalaev, ‘He can come now, he’s already left.’
“Like damn, he was hiding. They hid the guy in a little room, man. The guy thinks I’m going to run into him and start fighting. Do I look stupid, bro?
“This guy talks nonsense. I hadn’t even seen [Ankalaev’s social media posts], for real,” ‘Poatan’ continued. “Honestly I would’ve handled it way better. But the fact that the guy hides in a room because I’m in the same place as him. He’s a chump. He’s a chump. I’ll keep to myself, you know? I’ll never pick a fight with the guy, never start something. Of course, unless he comes at me. I have to defend myself too.
“But what kind of champion is that man? A sh*t champion. I know that’s harsh, but he’s a sh*tty champion, man. A guy like that. And you know why? Not because of what he says, but hiding in a room today. He’s shown he’s a coward man. We’ll see. Hiding now. We’ll be in the cage, locked in there. Unless he jumps the fence. He’s a sh*tty champion, this guy.”
Pereira’s defeat to Anakalev earlier this year was just his second in the UFC and his first at light-heavyweight. The Brazilian is one of just a handful of fighters to have held world titles in more than one weight class in the UFC. He was the promotion’s middleweight (185-pound) champion between November 2022 and April 2023.
