Should Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira happen next? 

Magomed Ankalaev spoke to MMAJunkie (link below), does he have a solid case for a title shot? Let me know in the comments ✔ SUBSCRIBE to my channel here ru-vid.com/show-UCsK80SSNnnGkb2pwPgblMsA Interview via MMAJunkie mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2024/07/ufc-news-magomed-ankalaev-alex-pereira-overrated-striking-cant-move-heavyweight-before-title-defense Betting on the fights? 💰👊 Sign up on Bodog NOW to get a bonus ⬇ record.revenuenetwork.com/_4T8Z-wgcnSj4S3LS_z6SYGNd7ZgqdRLk/1/ 🔒 Brought to you by Express VPN 👮 Protect your online privacy ✅ Sign up for a 12-month package & get 3 months free using expressvpn.com/lynch ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🔑 Patreon for EXCLUSIVE content www.patreon.com/lynchonsports ➡ Follow me on Twitter - twitter.com/LynchOnSports​ ➡ Follow me on Instagram - instagram.com/lynchonsports/ ☑ SUBSCRIBE to my 2nd channel @LynchMMA ru-vid.com/show-UC25VBCaNMiNZEvbd7dnVoCQ ☑ SUBSCRIBE to my LIFESTYLE channel "Lynch On Life" ru-vid.com/show-UCmCzIe2Kbwrk8_Z7qUIg2NA ​▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Like my work? Consider supporting me here 💰 ➡ www.paypal.com/paypalme/lynchonsports ➡ Buy my merchandise! lynchonsports.creator-spring.com/ Any amount helps with the following ... • Travel expenses covering MMA events • Equipment for production • Improving my overall production quality Saying that I'm very grateful for the audience I have and don't feel like this is forced. I appreciate all the support regardless!

Ankalaev is definitely the next fight to make

Of course Ankalaev deserves it

I would rather see Pereira fight Ankalaev next..I don't see Pereira matching up with Aspinall, and Jones probably won't fight again after Stiepe..And Heavy weight is such a dumpster fire, why screw up the LHW division too..

Absolutely

Yes, Ankalaev needs the next shot at the title. ASAP

Also touching upon "timing", Jon is rumoured to fight in the winter of 2024, and Dana is adamant that he wants to Unify the Interim and HW belt. The Unification bout would be later on in 2025. Even if he did jump the line and fight the winner of Jones/Stipe, that would again be later on in 2025. So what then? He sits and stalls the LHW division to wait and face the winner of Jones/Stipe likely in the 2nd quarter of 2025, or even later? Plinio Cruz even admits HW is logjammed and Alex has no fight to make there for a meaningful amount of time. Any fan pushing the narrative of HW just wish for him to duck Ankalaev. People say "he has nobody left at LHW" when Magomed has been an unbreakable pillar in the LHW division for many years

Answer to the question in the title: YES

Yes 100% Ankalaev should be next for the title shot, Jan can face the winner in a rematch

Theres literally no one else that deserves a title shot at lhw. I have no idea why so many people have an issue with it. It was the same thing when Islam got a title shot with olives. Im not saying Magomed beats Alex. But the dude deserves it just like how ddp and belal deserved theirs. And in no way is magomed a boring figher. Many of this ufc wins are finishes. So i dont understand what the issue is.

Alex has a 4" reach advantage and is 1" taller. Will be way heavier thank magomed when they fight. KO for Alex

Ankalaev, yes

It has to be ankalaev but I think they should do it in Brazil I think that would make it a bigger fight. Pereira deserves to fight in Brazil it’s about time a Russian fighter fight in Brazil.

I agree with you James

Paul Craig tapped him out. Guy fought Jan to a draw. He finishes Walker & smith. Those 2 have been finished by other top guys. Alex has done more in 4 fights

While I think Poaton has great success at heavyweight personally. He needs to beat ank BARE MINIMUM before moving up. Ank is the only option that makes any sense for him. Excited to see the matchup.

Loving the content recently James! Haven’t been able to join the live streams much but the videos have been great

Is interesting with the Pereira experiment which we also saw with the Habib experiment is that an interesting path to success is being really good at one thing instead of being good at multiple things

Great video James!

Before even listening to the content of this video - THIS IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF VIDEOS WE NEED IN THE MMA WORLD! So thank you once again for making content that’s relevant, original, and welcomes openness of opinion now let me hear what you have to say and I will tell you what I think about Ank vs Poatan, and whether or not it should be Alex’s next title defence or should be free roll / play with the house money by moving up to fight Aspinal, if he succeeds in avenging his loss to Blades, which most people as well as the odds makers obviously think Tommy Boy should be able to accomplish. 👍 👍 👍

As a fluent Russian speaker, I can say that there are no misstranslation when Ankalaev talks about Pereira’s "overrated" striking skills. But you have to understand and make allowance for the fact that he is kinda stupid and not really good even on his own native language.

Yes, Ankalaev. If Jones beats Miocic he won’t fight Aspinall. He either retires or the UFC makes a super fight with Alex and they both retire after that.

I do think Ankalaev should fight Pereira next. But to be honest with you. I didn't like much the interview done by MMA Junkie, because they didn't push Ankalaev as I expected, in terms of time frame to fight. Especially because we all know that Pereira is an active champion. Why there wasn't no question if he is willing to fight in Australia? Or even in the UK card? The impression I had is that he is willing to fight Pereira whenever the UFC wants. If I was in Pereira shoes, I would be chasing greateness rather than fight a guy that isn't willing to take the same risk as he does. Especially because Pereira knows that clock is going against him. From the UFC side, they even prefer Pereira as a champion than a Russian, who doesn't speak English and doesn't know how to engage with fans in the social media. I believe they rather match up Pereira vs Jan or Kaliu(I don't know how to spell his name) or Even Pereira vs Anthony Smith. I know those match up don't make sense, but I believe them all would sell more than Pereira than Ankalaev.

Dana got everybody to hate Magomed cause of that weird draw that was clearly done to give Glover the title shot in his backyard. Nobody wants to admit it. Magomed has been FLAWLESS in the UFC. A lot of people are drinking the Joe Rogan kool aid of Alex Periera cant beat Magomed Ankalev. Alex Pereria wouldnt have returned to MMA if Izzy wasnt dominating the middleweight division. Alex vs Ankalovev should main event UFC 306 in Abu Dhabi. James is 100% right.

Yes, or we riot!!!

Hill & ankaleav should fight for #1 contender spot, they both think they deserve it & that would decide.

Ankelaev should have to go through Jiri before fighting Alex. And I don't see him getting by Jiri.

Yes Ankalaev is the only guy left for Pereira before a move up to HW

Ankalaev is really the only option but its a bit shit that he would have got DQd anywhere else other than abu dhabi with that knee against walker

yes that is the fight to make, then if poatan defeats he can move up and get the legacy fight whether its against jonny boy or aspinall to become first champion in 3 different weight classes

I totally agree with what you said james 100 percent unbiased analysis

Ankalaev right now has the best results. Everyone else lost their last fight. If Pereira beats Ankalaev, he would be respected as dominant champion of LHW. So far no answer from Rakic. The division ist almost cleared.

Ankalaev will smoke Periera & i told You all Ankalaev didn't turn off a 303 Fight the UFC offer Jiri not Ankalaev lol

He definitely deserves a shot. But I don't agree with the betting line. He shouldn't be that big of a favorite over Alex. I do think he has the ability to win. But if he Fights the same way he fought Jan, then he's getting knocked out. I would understand the betting line if he was a dominant force on the ground but he has 0 submission wins in the UFC and he spends a lot of the fight on his feet and his striking isn't on Alex level. Could he win with take downs? Sure he can, but to be that big of a favorite I don't understand.

Yes he deserve the title short

No. Really don’t want to watch a hugging fest. Poatan vs Jones for HW champ. That’s it.

Jan fight was not boring and Ankalaev won that one. I would watch that many times over than what leon and colby did.

I never want to see a daggy fan ever question or call James biased against Dagestanis. He is going out of his way to DEFEND and advocate for Magomeds title shot. He only see's things for which there are. And is always unbiased. Sometimes that pissses people off to be that honest.

Why is everyone hating on dagestanis fighters lol.

Thanks for breaking this down brother 🤝🏽

James ankalev is the most deserving to fight alex It should be next for sure

Ankalaev vs Pereira period. We want this so bad

Alex with kn out anklaev😂

Poatan knocks that backwards caveman out cold

Is it possible to UFC wants to see Israel versus Alex if Israel wins in a dominant fashion

Yes yes yes

Alex has done more in 4 fights at 205 than ankaleov has done in his whole ufc career. Just go to tapology

If meritocracy was a thing in the UFC, then Magomed should get the title shot against Alex. Now since Alex did favors for the UFC to step in part of me thinks he’s going to ask for the heavyweight shot and he’s going to get it. The light heavyweight division names that are available just aren’t exciting outside of the MMA bubble.

Honestly you could give it to Jan, dude won R1 with the grappling and most likely gassed because of Salt Lake City's altitude, arguably still should've won that split dec against Pereira, arguably beat Ankalaev, definitely outstruck him at the very least, and the only difference between the two atm credentially is Ankalaev KOing Walker in a less impressive fashion than Volkan Oezdemir did and I'd bet Jan would also beat Walker faster than Ankalaev did if given the opportunity, if anything I'd say going to a split dec with Pereira is WAY more impressive than sending Walker out to pasture

Ufc= wwe

Yes

9:00 Islam never fought the real contender after winning the title, Alex put the contenders with a first round Kos. Plus heavy weight is so hard for Alex Pereira while Islam cherry picking Leon Edwards who almost lost to Kumaru on wrestling. If Shakvat was a champiion Islam would have shut up about it.

Even though he's deserving it's hard to see the UFC risking Pereira losing to a fighter that doesn't move the needle.

i think volkan oezdamir should get a title shot.....volkan oezdamir has got my vote 100% this is a guy that doesn't wine about anything...... this is a guy that in my opinion and i think many others would agree beat dominic reyes but lost the decision....he was upset about the decision and thought he should have won.... he complained about the decision for about a second and moved on. unlike dominic reyes who loses to jon jones in a similar fashion and continuously cries about the decision loss wants judging changes ,,, goes on a three fight streak where he's getting knocked out in every fight.. so to me volkan should get a shot...i think we'd see a different fight here. a hard hitter someone that's not afraid to take a shot or two, i think alex pereira vs volkan oezdamir would be a good match up....

Nope

Surprised u don’t think it’s a bit overrated. (Striking) completely different level of comfortability when someone’s going to grab you and take you down. We’ve seen in almost every recent fight they can’t even get there flow. Best example is sterling and kattar. And he’s got a much better ground and pound then Jiri just saying.

Fun Fact: Alex is a Black belt in Ju Jit su while Anklelover is a white belt.

Dude Alex isn't nearly as priveledge as O'mally and Adesanya.You make it sound like he's Bo Nickle but he's fought hammer after hammer while injured. And to boot hes been insanely active. Fought on short notice multiple times. How come no one else stepped up to save those headlines at 300 and 303. Where were all the other champs? He defenitatly deserves the right to move up especially because there is nothing that interesting at LH. That said I want him to beat Ankaleav first and then move up and I'm pretty sure he'll do just that. He's not ducking anyone when he was aked about fighting magomed he responded "anybody"

Alex vs Jan 2 ✨

Magomed is on a 1 fight win streak...a draw means you didn't win. Even with that Magomed is the only really clear next contender.

How many media members said thought Jan beat alex. Cause I thought Jan won

I'd just hate seeing dude become champion. Another "champ" defending his belt one time every year if you're lucky. He should fight someone instead of sitting around watching alex fight four times a year.

We have no idea. Alex spedrun everything and knocked everybody out within just months. So now we don't know what's next for him as he has no opponents left to face

Short answer : no Long answer: hell no Fight and beat hill by finish and or fight and beat two fighters in the top 5 ( he hasn’t beat anyone in the top 5 )

Ankalev doesn't deserve anything he wanted to fight in abudhabi??? And ankalev rejected to fight periera in 303 he didn't step up. So why does he deserve anything periera should go and fight Ciryl Gane.

No he doesn’t on a 1 fight win streak

What about VOLKAN OEZDAMIR? just a thought....i don't think ian gary is that good but he does know the business....you need to make your case if you want to be relevant in this sport.....in other words speak make yourself known Volkan Oezdamir is worthy has a great attitude...not a crybaby but needs to speak up.....he's been around for awhile but we hardly know that this guy exists.... just out of the blue we hear he has a match. He's one of the fighters that i always tune in to watch.... you'll never get a boring fight from this guy. he does cry after a decision loss like reyes did.....he moves on and bounces back... So i'd throw Volkan Oezdamirs name in the hat as Alex's next challenger for the belt

Its because Islam fought litererally nobody before becoming champ and after he did, he fought a smaller guy twice, so yeah, he has to clear the division. In reverse, if Alex fought twice Adesanya at LHW, we could say the same about him as well.

Khalil Rountree next after he's done with his suspension or it gets overturned, 5 fight win streak with 4 finishes while Ankalaev is coming off a split decision where a 40 year old Jan butchered his legs for half the fight.

Ankalaev doesnt desereve it. His only good wins are against Oezdemir and Walker. He also denied a title shot and only wants to fight in Abu Dhabi. Give Alex, Jan B next, the guy imo won against Ankalaev.

Ankalaev has sat on sidelines he deserves nothing

Alex pereira dictates where he fights. End of discussion