Magomed Ankalaev most recently made an appearance inside the fabled Octagon last month during UFC 320 inside T-Mobile Arena in Enterprise, NV. His opponent that first Saturday night of October was Alex Pereira. At stake: The UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
Chapter two of the story ended on the sourest of notes for Magomed Ankalaev. Although the first contest resulted in an Ankalaev win by decision, the renewal of hostilities saw “Poatan” win gold in the 205-lb division.
A minute and 20 seconds was all it took for Ankalaev to surrender light heavyweight supremacy to the former GLORY Kickboxing great. The Oct. 4 loss to Alex Pereira saw Ankalaev’s overall record in MMA drop to 21-2-1, with a 12-2-1 record under the UFC promotional banner.
Ali Abdelaziz Reveals Extent of Magomed Ankalaev’s Training Camp Injury on Submission Radio
If you were watching the UFC 320 pay-per-view telecast on ESPN+ inside the United States a month ago, Daniel Cormier, who worked the show as an analyst, referred to reports indicating that Magomed Ankalaev sustained broken ribs during training camp for the title fight. On the latest edition of Submission Radio, the former titleholder’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, discussed his client’s injury.
“[Magomed] Ankalaev did not train for almost 40 days for this fight,” Ali Abdelaziz began in the interview. “He came from Dagestan with messed-up ribs and he sparred three times. Every time, we had to stop the sparring.”
Abdelaziz also mentioned that the UFC was aware of Magomed Ankalaev’s condition the entire time leading up to the contest on Oct. 4.
“The only things he did for 40 days was run, jump rope, hit mitts, and do conditioning,” he said. “He barely did any sparring. He did zero wrestling, zero grappling. I hope [that] the UFC will appreciate what he’s done for them to keep the main event going on and I think he’s one fight away, honestly, from a title.”
Abdelaziz Pleaded with Magomed Ankalaev to Postpone Oct. 4 Fight
Though Magomed Ankalaev was surely a noble fighter in pressing forward with last month’s contest in spite of his injury, Ali Abdelaziz tried to get him to not go inside the cage in Enterprise.
“I was begging him not to fight, but he did not listen to me,” he recalled in the interview. “I begged him. Listen, we win together and we lose together, but sometimes, when it takes you this many years to become champion, the UFC is not going to give you any favors here.”
Give Credit to Magomed Ankalaev for Fighting, but Also Face the Facts
When it gets to a point that a fighter’s manager has to get them to consider not fighting for a championship due to injuries sustained in training camp, and said injuries limit the fighter’s training regimen in the run-up to the contest, that should be enough to get him or her to think twice about fighting.
“My training camp has been hampered by injuries,”, the fighter will think. “If this causes further damage, it’s not worth fighting on the scheduled date.”
As previously stated, Magomed Ankalaev showed guts in his willingness to fight Alex Pereira on the night of Oct. 4. The facts are there, however.
During the contest in UFC 320, Pereira’s gameplan was simple: Target Ankalaev’s treated ribs to score a knockout. This plan of attack was executed perfectly for Alex Pereira, who finished the fight in less than half of a round.
Ali Abdelaziz acted in Magomed Ankalaev’s best interest going into UFC 320, just as any manager should do when he’s dealing with an injured fighter.
