And New….. Magomed Ankalaev
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, March 8, 2025, for UFC 313, going down live from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
Headlining the event was a light-heavyweight title bout between champion Alex Pereira (12-3) and no. 1 ranked former title challenger Magomed Ankalaev (21-1-1).
Pereira, following his claim of the UFC middleweight championship in 2022 with his victory over Israel Adesanya (TKO), would lose it in their immediate rematch (KO) six months later.
Since then however he’d moved up to 205 lbs, defeated former champion Jan Blachowicz (SD) in his divisional debut leading into his first light-heavyweight title fight opposing another former champion in Jiri Prochazka. After winning that fight (TKO) Pereira had since defended his title three-straight times, first against former champion Jamahal Hill (KO), another win over Prochazka (KO) in their rematch, and then Khalil Rountree Jr (TKO) this past October.
Ankalaev on the other hand, to many, has been the uncrowned light-heavyweight champion for some time now.
Going into his first title fight against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 282 Ankalaev was riding a nine-fight win streak. Following a draw in that fight he would then foul Johnny Walker in his next appearance, the fight resulting in a no contest for an illegal knee. Since then Ankalaev has fought and won twice, defeating Johnny Walker (KO) in their rematch, before defeating top five ranked Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308.
Continue reading to see how this light-heavyweight championship bout went down:
Official Result: Magomed Ankalaev def. Alex Pereira via unanimous decision (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
Pereira frustrated Ankalaev throughout the opening round with his leg kicks, landing a total of 15 of them through the first five minutes, the last one of which buckled Ankalaev’s legs and forced an unsuccessful takedown attempt out of him. Ankalaev returned with a few leg kicks of his own, landing six, though missed on nearly every punch attempt.
Ankalaev had a much better second round, tagging the champion with ease from his leg kicks, round kicks and snap kicks to the body, and he also found the range with his hands, landing a number of good combinations through round two, even hurting Pereira badly in the final seconds with a nasty left hand.
Pereira had a good rebound in the third, though it was the hardest to score out of the first three; Ankalaev pressed the action and walked Pereira down throughout it, though Pereira picked him apart, landing many leg kicks and also some good punch counters.
Ankalaev tried hard for a takedown to begin the fourth round, pressing Pereira into the fence in search of it for the opening three minutes. Once the referee separated them he shot in for another, accumulating a lot of control time. Pereira secured a beautiful foot sweep right as the buzzer sounded, but it was far too late in the round for him to do anything with it.
There wasn’t much activity early on in the fifth and final round, though Pereira was walking Ankalaev down, refusing to give up any space. He landed a great leg kick and immediately followed it up with a head kick that back Ankalaev up.
Pereira continued to use his range, landing a couple stiff jabs before Ankalaev tied up with him along the fence for the final 90 seconds.
Pereira did a great job of stuffing every single takedown attempt thrown his way; every previous UFC opponent that tried to take him down succeeded, and Ankalaev is by far the best wrestler he’s ever fought. But at that same time Ankalaev made Pereira fight much more timid that we’re used to seeing out of him.
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