With just over a week to go before they clash in the main event at UFC 320, tension is building between Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev.
Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) was dethroned as light heavyweight champion by Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) when they fought at UFC 313 last March. Both fighters are finalizing preparations for next week’s rematch in Las Vegas, and “Poatan” suggested that Ankalaev was ducking him when they nearly crossed paths at the UFC Performance Institute.
"Something funny happened just now when I was leaving the PI," Pereira said on his YouTube channel. "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?”
The build up to this fight has been relatively quiet, although Ankalaev recently clapped back at Pereira in a tweet, promising the Brazilian that he would “sleeping and on your way (to) working at the tire shop again.”
Pereira says that he took no notice of Ankalaev’s tweet.
"This guy talks nonsense,” said the former two-weight UFC champion. “I hadn't even seen (his posts on X), for real. 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."
