Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira are set to run it back in the main event of UFC 320 on October 4 at T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Their rivalry heated up early when the two met at the UFC Performance Institute, just days before fight night. Ankalaev, who won their first matchup in March by unanimous decision to claim the 205-pound championship, posted a tense exchange with Pereira to his Instagram Stories.
Ankalaev says respect is gone
Ankalaev explained why he confronted Pereira in person, pointing to recent social posts in which Pereira claimed the champion had been hiding at the PI. Through an interpreter, Ankalaev laid out his grievance.
“Honestly, up until recently, I had respect for him as a fighter and as a person,” Ankalaev said. “I no longer respect him because, OK, trash talk is something to hype up the fight, maybe you say something funny, or to be salty, but when you lie to people and say, ‘I saw him, and he hid,’ and stuff like that he recently said, I don’t respect people like that. Why would you lie about something that never happened?”
He added that when he confronted Pereira directly, the Brazilian deflected instead of owning the comments.
“The problem here is that he was talking all this crap just a few days ago, and then today I saw him – it was just me and my coach and him and his whole team – I approached him and I said, ‘Hey, guys. You were lying that I was hiding and stuff. I’m right here right now. What are you going to do?’ He responded by saying, ‘Oh this girl said that, this guy that said that,’ and he started making stuff up on the spot.”
Ankalaev made clear he prefers to settle matters inside the octagon, but warned he will defend himself if pushed.
“I have no problem, but say he gets close to me next week and decides to get too close to me, of course, I’m going to defend myself. Other than that, we’ll see everything in the cage.” via MMAJunkie
Ankalaev demands action not talk
In addition to those remarks, Ankalaev posted a pointed line aimed at stopping the online noise and moving the rivalry to the fight itself. The quote was shared via X.
“The same thing, you just keep throwing words around, but we’re fighting [next week],” Ankalev said via X account Championship Rounds. “Let’s settle it in the octagon. Why waste time with empty talk?”
This clown who I’m fighting said I’m hiding from him, I’m giving him a rematch and he should be very grateful.
I whooped him for 5 rounds and I did everything I wanted to him during the fight.
Let’s focus on fighting and not trash talking.
— Muhammad big ANK Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) September 24, 2025
Had my last hard training today and I’m good to go.
Met my opponent today, I confronted him for lying about seeing me in the PI the other day to which he said “ohh no it was one girl who told me she saw you but I didn’t see you myself”
I will turn off his electricity next week
— Muhammad big ANK Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) September 25, 2025
Pereira’s sharp response
Pereira did not back down during the exchange. Speaking in Portuguese, he fired back at Ankalaev’s accusation and dismissed the champion’s tone.
“I’ve never said anything, he’s always talked. I’ve never said anything, he’s always talked. And now that we’re close, face to face, he’s an asshole.”
The short clip ends there, though Pereira indicated he plans to post a longer video of the encounter on his YouTube channel.
Magomed Ankalaev ran into Alex Pereira at the UFC PI and it looks like they were in the middle of a heated conversation 😳🍿
🗣️ Magomed: “You just keep throwing words around. Let’s settle it in the octagon.”
🗣️ Alex: “I never said anything, they’re the ones who are always… pic.twitter.com/SOZ6BJv9QN
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) September 25, 2025
This encounter follows Pereira’s recent social posts claiming Ankalaev avoided him at the PI, a claim Ankalaev denies. The two will meet again for the UFC light heavyweight title on October 4 at T Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. For now, both fighters have swapped words and warnings; the rematch will decide the rest.
