Ank is nothing special IMHO. Emphasis on "special".

[Rubios]

Let's put Alex aside for a moment.

Jiri could beat Ank any given day, but most likely he loses more often than he wins.
He's head and shoulders above anyone else in a weak LHW division.

Now, back to Alex.
Our training coach made us watch their fight today. It was my 3rd time.
Pereira lost, period.

But he was able to deny his wrestling/grappling. All 12 attempts. If he got to the ground with Ank, he'd have been in big trouble.
There was some cage work, but the fight kept standing 80% of the time.

So, sure, the TD threat was looming in Poatan's head, but once you defend successfully the first... dunno, 4-5?
you get enough confidence to focus on the striking match. Because it was basically a striking KB match.

Retroactively, the info about Poatan having a foot and his lead hand/shoulder/whatever injured... makes sense.
No excuses: if you enter the cage, you are ready to fight.

Poatan's left was absent, his -apparently- pitty-patter low kicks with the inner foot (that actually cause a lot of damage, as other fighters have reported) did nothing this time, and he landed a ton of them.
I don't know, it adds up IMO.

I don't buy that he didn't take the camp seriously. It was his last challenge left* (I'll dig into this).
He is 37 and has had the tightest schedule. Injuries piling up and getting sick while on camp sounds likely to me.

Don't get me wrong, Ank is a good/great MMA striker with a wrestling cherry on top.
But Alex has faced each of his strengths to the 11th.
More power, more pressure, faster hands, better defense... even hand-fighting, too.

Now, the rematch. Alex has much more room for improvement in his TDD/wrestling/defensive grappling that Ank has regarding his striking.
Alex won't forget how to KB.

If Ank doesn't make it ugly, I'm pretty confident that a healthy, recovered Alex takes it pretty comfortably.


*If Alex won, he would be undeniable and silence the naysayers securing a spot along the greatest combat sport athletes of all time.
And move to HW. Losing to JJ or Aspinall, even in dominant fashion (unless he looked absolutely embarrassing) wouldn't lower his stock the tiniest bit.
The HW fight would've been a celebration lap for him, at worst, or an epic win if somehow he pulled it off.

 

[Alpha_T83]

Really? The guy who Pereira knocked out twice is going to beat Ank? I just don't see it.

Ankalaev is 12-1-1-1 in the UFC... that's pretty damn good. I'm a huge Pereira fan and I hope he wins the rematch, but I just don't see it. Ankalaev is in his prime and well rounded. I can't see who beats him at 205 in the next 1-2 years.

I think Ank will be champ until he gets old and loses at 36-37 years old.

 

[Chagaev]

Not special, but competent. Which can take you far in a division of dudes who block punches with their faces, trip over their own feet, are old and shopworn etc.

 

[jeff7b9]

 

[Rubios]

OP was submitted by mistake mid-writing. It's complete now. Sorry, my bad.

 

[VAfan]

he hasn't had a lot of fights so sampling size too small to tell (if he's for real or not), but IMO you can't base much on the peireira fight. apart from the one big shot he landed (in 2nd, IIRC) that was pretty much a points fighting win.

not to say beating poatan in any way shape or form isn't impressive, because it is, but as of right now that's pretty much the only big name win on his resume.

 

[HHJ]

he hasn't had a lot of fights so sampling size too small to tell (if he's for real or not), but IMO you can't base much on the peireira fight. apart from the one big shot he landed (in 2nd, IIRC) that was pretty much a points fighting win.

not to say beating poatan in any way shape or form isn't impressive, because it is, but as of right now that's pretty much the only big name win on his resume.

Uh huh.

And why is that? Oh why won't no one call him out or UFC put him up against the guys that fought for the title before him.

Why did UFC wait so long to give him the poatan fight? If he's nothing special?

 

[VAfan]

Uh huh.

And why is that? Oh why won't no one call him out or UFC put him up against the guys that fought for the title before him.

Why did UFC wait so long to give him the poatan fight? If he's nothing special?

not saying he isn't. it's just too early to tell. he may be an all-time great or may not, time will tell. but the fact is, outside of peireira his biggest wins are guys like krylov and cutaleba. he drew with jan and a decent win against rakic and that's it.

obviously he looks good but need to wait and see, could be flash in the pan or could be legit.

 

[Bilzerian]

Ank is special in everywhere more than other LHW, that’s why he’s champ now

 

[Sean Chowdhury]

before the fight pereira was supposed to knock him out now it's "he's 37 and had norovirus" pereira fans are wack

 

[Rubios]

Alex lost. Every time I watch the fight (coach made us watch along today, it was my 3rd) it's less and less debatable that Ank did better, inflicted more damage and deserved the win.

But, having heard here and there that Alex was indeed undergoing a foot (or ankle) and lead hand (or shoulder, or wrist...) injuries, in retrospective it adds up with what I've watched.

Further developed in OP, but TL;DR absent left hand and about... 27 iirc calf kicks landed (the weird Poatan's inner foot ones) causing apparently no damage at all, when a much much lower volume of them hurt Israel and Jiri.
They said it themselves.

Not "injuries" in the sense of, you know, no fighter enters the cage without wear&tear from the camp. But actual injuries.

We'll see in the rematch, but maybe we should put some context on a win over a 37 yo breaking down from fighting 5 times in 15 months.

Hey, not his fault. Ank is great and fought Poatan in the ballsiest way. All my props.
Just not THAT great, IMHO.

 

[Ares Black]

Thread 'Ankalaev is a monster... One of the best LHWs ever'

May 2, 2025

Just re-watched the fight that he lost... I mean, Ankalaev was destroying Paul Craig 99% of the fight. There wasn't even a single round Paul Craig was winning, he was being totally outstriked, ground and pounded... It was as dominant of an ass whopping as it could be. But then in the last round, Ankalaev was also winning and g&p Paul Craig, who got him into a triangle 10 seconds left in the clock. Ankalaev tapped at 4:59, one second before what would mean a totally unanimous ass whopping. I don't know why he tapped so quickly, like, didn't he know how many seconds were left? Khabib was...

• Luffy
• Replies: 33
• Forum: UFC Discussion

• 

 

[BabyBlue_Bomber]

Ankalaev’s wrestling is probably the best in the division at the moment, and while he isn’t a consistent home run hitter, he has show that he is a consistent doubles and triples hitter…

Those two skills alone already make him a big problem for most guys, but then throw in the fact that he is a lefty and a tall and lanky fighter and knows how to fight tall and lanky and it’s not hard to see why he is the current champion.

 

[Motivated BJ Penn]

Poatan is the past, Big Ank is the future

 

[PrideNverDies]

He taps specially quick

 

[Thesnake101]

What, so he should be wearing a helmet and ride a short bus to be more your speed, OP? Is that what you're saying?

 

[Khaosan]

Paul Craig bless.

 

[Prazeres]

Poatan was never close to being "the greatest combat sport athlete of all time", winning belts in multiple sports is neat, but he did it in shitty divisions lacking much depth in both.
There are dozens of boxer, MMA fighter and kickboxers who have better resume within their singular discipline than Peirera has across both his.

 

[yookfarb]

First of all, kickboxing is definitely a fake sport so everything Alex did in Glory means absolutely nothing.

Secondly, Pereira never would have been the champion if they didn't rob Ankalaev against Jan. They've been protecting the "CHAMA" for marks like you and now it's time to see the truth for what it is.

 

[don't ask]

If Alex wins the rematch by grappling, then I think he'll have proven something. Otherwise, there's still a giant question mark about his grappling.

And were his injuries confirmed? Or are they still just rumors?