Following his win over Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 308 in October, it looks like the next time that we see Magomed Ankalaev, he will finally get his long awaited title shot against Alex Pereira. Many expected that this would be the next test for "Poatan" following his wins over Jamahal Hill and Jiří Procházka earlier this year but instead, he defended the title at UFC 307 by finishing Khalil Rountree Jr.
In Abu Dhabi, Ankalaev got his hand raised once again after sticking to his word and beating Rakić over three rounds by only striking with him. The Russian has continued to push the idea that when he eventually faced Pereira, he will do the same and will knockout the kickboxing specialist to win the 205-pound gold.
One fellow top contender who doesn't think this that applying the same approach is the best idea is the former champion, Jan Błachowicz. In his last outing at UFC 291, "Polish Power" became the closest of anyone to beating Pereira at light heavyweight when he welcomed the former middleweight champion to his new weight class.
Błachowicz came out on the wrong side of a split decision and though he wasn't able to land a lot of offense, he did have some success with his grappling and once he became tired, he was able to avoid eating anything too damaging from the Brazilian. Błachowicz gave his thoughts on that potential title fight in a recent interview with James Lynch for Home of Fight.
He believes that in order for Ankalaev to leave with the title, he needs to take more risks to really put a stamp on the fight instead of simply trying to win each round without taking damage.
If Ankalaev will fight like last fight with [Aleksandar] Rakic, he's going to lose the fight. He needs to do something more. He needs to be like, I don't know, but - he is good fighter, but it's not enough for Pereira in this kind of style. He needs to change.
"He needs to be more - he has to believe in that which he's doing. I think he doesn't believe. He just wants to win the fight, but don't take too much punches. He is very careful in this what he's doing and I think this kind of way, fighting with Pereira, will not work.
