Alex Pereira is letting the verbal volleys fly at Magomed Ankalaev before the fistic fireworks are set off this weekend. Pereira and Ankalaev will run it back in a rematch for light heavyweight gold which transpires at UFC 320 on October 4th. Speaking to assembled media at an open workout event in Las vegas prior to his sequel clash with the dominant Russian, with video footage provided by MMA Junkie, 'Poatan' touched on several subjects related to the personal rivlary that has emerged between himself and Ankalaev all through 2025.
Speaking about how he perceived that Ankalev was avoiding him and even intimating that the reigning 205 pound champ was not the one generating the trash talk in question, as Pereira [through the aid of an interpretor] said,
"100% he hid when he arrived here. I think this proves that it's not him who writes things, because people are putting responsibility on him. And then, when he gets here, he thinks: 'Damn, I wasn't the one who said that, right? Now I'm going to stay here, I'm alone.' And then whoever spoke is somewhere else, maybe, right? So the guy is here alone, feels alone... I don't believe it's fear, but maybe he didn't know my reaction and said: 'I'm going to hide to avoid something.' Maybe, but that he hid, that's 100%."
Alex Pereira and the backstory on why he made these claims about Magomed Ankalaev
Alex Pereira did not make these comments apropos of nothing as Magomed Ankalaev had previously made some claims about 'Poatan' lying. The reigning UFC light heavyweight champion described Pereira as not being truthful regarding a confrontation that recently happened between the two at the UFC's Performance Institute.
Giving an overview of the whole situation and trying to indicate a stoic detachment from any kind of rivalry with his opponent on Saturday night, Pereira stated [via MMA Junkie],
"I don't know why he's saying that because that's 100 percent what happened. That just goes to show you it's not him writing online. It's not coming from him. What happens is somebody else is somewhere else writing for him, and then he comes here and sees me. Maybe he thought I don't want to face him right now, and I'm alone. But that's 100 percent what happened."
"I try to avoid conflicts with my opponents. I even try to be friendly with them afterward. You've seen this before. I've talked about training with past opponents. I don't really know what it is. He used to say a lot, that I was running away from him, that I didn't want to fight him. That's never happened. We all know the UFC didn't want to promote that fight. That's never what it was. I have no problem with him. I always try to be friendly and avoid conflict."
