Magomed Ankalaev isn’t known for his trash talk but he had plenty to say when addressing Alex Pereira on Thursday during the UFC 313 pre-fight press conference.
The usually soft-spoken Russian was almost uncharacteristically vocal on stage while dealing with a raucous crowd that was mostly backing his opponent. None of it seemed to bother Ankalaev much as he smiled through the boos and vowed to change the chants by the time Saturday night’s main event is over.
“I’d like to say that I see in this fight everyone is against me,” Ankalaev said. “Everyone is saying ‘Chama! Chama! Chama!’ But guess what? Chama time is over. After this Saturday night, after the fight, you will all love me.
“The same people that are saying Chama now are going to be saying No Chama! It’s Ankalaev time.”
Of course, ‘Chama’ is a word that Pereira has made famous during his stunning run through the UFC where he’s been a two-division champion with three title defenses already under his belt in the light heavyweight division.
But despite his dominance, Pereira is barely favored to win in his latest fight with many believing he’s facing his biggest obstacle yet in Ankalaev.
With a 19-1 record with one no contest including 10 knockouts and a background in combat sambo, Ankalaev seemingly has the size and power to give Pereira problems no matter where this fight goes. That’s one of the reasons why he’s been championed as the true No. 1 contender in the division for quite some time after he came up short in his previous bid at becoming champion following a split draw with Jan Blachowicz back in 2022.
That setback forced Ankalaev to work a little harder to get back to another title shot and he believes Pereira should be grateful for that fact.
“I wasn’t upset about the last Magomed Ankalaev: Alex Pereira ‘should say thank you to Dana White for protecting him … Chama time is over!’ fight,” Ankalaev said. “I have nobody to blame, it’s just myself. We saw the fight. The whole world saw the fight but it happened the way it happened. Now it’s a whole different ballgame. It’s a different fight, it’s a different opponent.
“You know what? Honestly, [Pereira] should say thank you to Dana White for protecting him this whole time. Now it’s going to be a whole different thing.”
While the partisan crowd rarely quieted down much to allow Ankalaev to speak, he did get a few questions from the Russian media assembled — including one question about beating Pereira so bad that he’s forced to give up his fight career and go back to his old job working at a tire shop in Brazil.
Ankalaev couldn’t help but laugh at that one before responding.
“We’re planning on absolutely dominating him on Saturday,” Ankalaev said. “We’re going to make sure that Chama has no chances on Saturday. Whether or not he stays in the sport or decides to go back to the tire shop, that’s going to be up to him. He’s going to be the one that has to make that decision.”
For all the ways Ankalaev expects to win and walk out of UFC 313 as champion, he’s not even contemplating what comes next until he gets through Pereira.
Because Pereira has been such a dominant champion, he could potentially warrant an immediate rematch no matter how the fight plays out but Ankalaev prefers getting the job done first before he starts thinking about that.
“For now we’re not concentrating on what’s going to happen afterwards,” Ankalaev said. “Right now, we’ve got a fight in front of us. Let’s go out there, let’s win and then afterwards we’ll think about who’s going to get the rematch or what.”
