Magomed Ankalaev unsure UFC appreciates him ahead of Alex Pereira bout

It’s been a frustrating road to the UFC title for Magomed Ankalaev.

Ankalaev (20-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) challenges light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 313 headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+).

However, that title opportunity didn’t come right away. Ankalaev battled Jan Blachowicz to a split draw in their vacant title fight at UFC 282, but despite the unsettled outcome, the promotion decided to move on from both fighters. Ankalaev had to fight three more times before returning to the title picture.

“I don’t know if they (UFC) appreciate me yet, but after this fight they will make sure to appreciate me,” Ankalaev said through an interpreter in a recent scrum in Las Vegas (h/t The MacLife Plus).

Pereira took pleasure in watching Ankalaev have to wait for his title shot, which prompted the Dagestani fighter to resort to uncharacteristic routes to campaign for his opportunity.

“I don’t care the way this affects him,” Ankalaev said of his trash talk to Pereira. “I don’t care if he takes it close to heart or not. What I know is we’re looking at this fight as if it’s the last fight ever. We’re going to do whatever we can to make sure that we get this opportunity.

“We were supposed to get this opportunity a long time ago and he was the one withholding this chance from us for a long time. So, we’re going to prepare to do whatever we can to win, and if he takes this thing personally that’s up to him. That’s not what we’re worried about.”

Unbeaten in his past 13 fights and with just one loss on his record, the long wait hasn’t been easy on Ankalaev.

“A lot of emotions,” Ankalaev said. “Waiting is the worst thing you can do. You just sit there and you wait. Obviously there was a little bit of frustration going on, but we’ve been asking for this and waiting for this. It’s just been a long time, but now we finally got this opportunity and that’s behind us. We’re going to do whatever we can to make sure to get this victory.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 313.