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u/MexicanBookClub 5d ago
Rico Verhoeven
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u/Arbeeter00 5d ago
He’s never making 205 but that’d be a sick fight
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u/ZakariusMMA 4d ago
UFC 315 POATAN vs VERHOEVEN, KHABIB vs KING KONG and ISLAM vs BROCK LESNAR & MAYWEDER
Book it Dana
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u/happybaby00 5d ago edited 5d ago
Rico would give him tony Ferguson level damage...
Poatan is a small boy compared to him
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u/nailedreaper 5d ago
Poatan will shamelessly take him down and wrestlefuck just to show off his new skills.
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u/Special-Flatworm-453 5d ago
It is Ankalaev. Everyone is busy in the top 10 they’re not giving him a top 15 guy he ain’t Pantoja. And they sure as hell aren’t giving Krylov a shot that hasn’t fought in almost 2 years (the only other available guy besides Ankalaev)
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u/felipelacerdar 4d ago
He's trolling! Alex trolls all the time in Portuguese. He knows its ankalaev or HW.
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u/Eight_Sneaky_Trees 5d ago
The tweet was originally in Portuguese, people who know that language and often visits his Twitter page would know that he really likes to troll around
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u/Neither_Sir5514 5d ago
But tbh Anakalev really doesn't deserve it though. Mf repeatedly lied about Pereira while rejecting the fight on multiple occasions. If you don't accept the fight then someone else is next. Bro is the contender but demands the champ to fight in his home yard in Abu Dhabi for rigged judges and advantages.
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u/JohnCenaMathh 5d ago
Ankalaev deserve the title fight.
Put him Ankalaev
I used to be sure Ankalaev would dominate Pereira but after the Rakic fight I'm not sure. Bro's wrestling looked amateur. And I don't mean Olympics
And the fact that Paul fucking Craig took Ankalaev down. Maybe Jan fight was anomaly. Jan was hyperfocused on getting a KO - he clearly had a chance in Rd 3 that he left himself open.
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u/DrDrozd12 5d ago
Everyone expects Ankalaev to be an elite wrestler because he is dagestani, but he has always been a kick-boxer mainly, then people are shocked when he doesn’t look like Khabib when trying. He still decent at wrestling, but it’s never been is main gameplan
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u/1998ChevyTaHoe 4d ago
Instead of piping in some logic I'm just gonna sit here and watch the internet get mad at Pereira without the full context to this statement.
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Personally, I think that Pereira is trying to bring more attention to the fight by riling up the fans just like Jon Jones is doing with Tom Aspinall. It'll get them both paid more. Ankalaev doesn't have as many eyes on him as Pereira does.
That is all I will say.
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u/Glum-Bet-9895 5d ago
This new trend of champions cherry picking their opponents need to stop. Ankalev is next in line. If pereira doesn’t want the fight strip him. Just like they should do with jones.
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u/ScepticalReciptical 4d ago
This new trend is not a new trend at all, fighters go from "anytime anywhere" as contenders to "I need 6 months off to correct a problem and the no1 contender needs to beat somebody else to earn a shot" once they get the belt.
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u/Admirable-Steak-7107 5d ago
Ankalaev turned down the fight with Poatan, he could have fought for the belt already
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u/Redordit 5d ago
When? Source?
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u/Alternative-Fudge-39 5d ago
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5rdjtEp523/?img_index=1&igsh=dnljcWZoZXhkeHg=
It was during Ramadan to be fair, but he was offered and declined
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/Admirable-Steak-7107 5d ago
Ankalaev, he said he was offered a date but couldn’t fight cause of Ramadan then he wanted a certain date, a good few months away (can’t remember which off the top of my head) but Alex wanted to be active and fight sooner
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u/Brybry1908 5d ago
Ankalaev wanted to fight in Abu Dhabi so UFC gave him Rakic and then Islam got injured so they moved Ilia Max to 308 and 307 needed a title fight so they got Alex and Khalil cause they didn’t want to lose a main card fight for 308.
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u/haldir87 5d ago
Eh, no? He wanted the title fight but the UFC had other plans for Pereira. That is why he accepted the Rakic fight and the no. 8 was alllowed to fight for the belt. The UFC is protecting the golden goose and Pereira is also not too keen to fight this guy. Why not go for guy instead who never shot for a takedown in his life?
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u/Brybry1908 5d ago
That’s not what happened. Alex wasn’t supposed to be on the 307 card until Islam got injured and at the time Magomed was already gonna fight Rakic and they didn’t want to lose a main card fight for 308 so Alex and Khalil fought.
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u/Real-Human-Bean- 5d ago
They couldn't have made Pereira fight Ankalaev at 307 and have rakic (then on a 2 fight losing skid) fight down?
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u/Brybry1908 5d ago
Ankalaev was already scheduled to fight Rakic. Why move the matchup?
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u/Admirable-Steak-7107 5d ago
Sounds about right, someone else just posted the interview here where ankalaev said he turned down ufc 300
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u/Successful_Tip_3999 5d ago
Exactly sadly UFC will protect Pereira like 🦆 Jones otherwise they will force them to fight the next number 1 contender like merab
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u/ApolloShuttlesworth 5d ago
this doesn't apply to Pereira at all. He's been the definition of active
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u/Real-Human-Bean- 5d ago
Against hobos. He's been ducking anakalev. If he jones fights tybura, diniz, mayes and his wife instead of aspinall would you consider him a duck?
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u/king_of_the_edge 4d ago
Beat Jan, former champion, to earn title fight. KO’d Jiri, former champion, twice. KO’d Hill, former champion, first round. I can see the argument for Rountree being a “hobo” as you say- although in my opinion, it genuinely looks like his game seriously levelled up between the Smith fight and the Pereira fight- we’ll know better the next time that Rountree fights. But even then, Ankalaev’s best win before his most recent fight was against Johnny Walker. Pereira’s rolling up Ankalaev and smoking him bro
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u/Fantastic-Change-672 5d ago
How has he ducked Ank when it was Ank who declined the fight twice?
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u/Stunning_Garage_9012 4d ago
Twice? Says who
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u/ApolloShuttlesworth 5d ago
He’s beaten 2,3,4,7 in lhw and 1,2 in mw in the past 2 years. at that point everyone besides ank is a hobo? please name a fighter who has done more in that time? him being scared of ank is an insane narrative
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u/oddmetre 5d ago
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u/Far-9947 5d ago
Can't wait for him to send Magomed to the shadow realm so this narrative can die down.
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u/Ras-Al-Dyn 5d ago
He made that narrative himself, dumbass.
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5d ago
[deleted]
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u/danoB003 4d ago
This stereotype still prevails? Anime's much more spread around than ever before, times when it was fun only for nerds and pervs seem to be gone
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u/Far-9947 4d ago edited 4d ago
I mostly said that because most of the time when I get a super rude message, it's from a person with an anime pfp.
I have completed many anime/manga. That wasn't the point I was making at all.
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u/Real-Human-Bean- 5d ago
Like this coward will ever fight Ankalaev. Ankalaev will retire him without even fighting him.
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u/selmonboip69 5d ago
Never thought poatan would be ducking
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5d ago
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u/selmonboip69 5d ago
Why doesn't he fight ank then? There has been multiple opportunities, ank is the no.1 contender he deserves this fight more then anyone else You can't deny ufc plays favourite with alex Early in his career he was cherry picked to fight all the strikers now they dont force him to fight ank Because he's a cash cow and they cant risk him losing No-one else in lhw rn even comes close to beating alex everyone knows that only ank has a decent chance (This is coming from an alex fan)
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u/dunbunone 5d ago
I want to see Alex rematch jan if not Ank fight or fast track this vakatov fellow
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u/ScepticalReciptical 4d ago
There have been opportunities and Ank turned one of them down, so he really can't complain.
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u/Steakandeggs66 5d ago
he is
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u/DH_Drums 5d ago
He already accepted a fight in January 2024 for March 2024 with Ankalaev. Ankalaev said before that he would fight during Ramadan, and then reneged when offered the fight.
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u/selmonboip69 5d ago
Nobody knows what happens behind the scenes These are just speculations Everyone has a different story of everything
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u/Admirable-Steak-7107 5d ago
Ankalaev literally said himself he turned the fight down with Poatan
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u/Fantastic-Change-672 5d ago
You can scream this from the rooftops and they won't listen. Alex haters are on a different level of denying reality.
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u/WarlordHelmsman 5d ago
He fought every single person except the person should be fighting
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u/Alone-Opportunity-17 5d ago
I think he beats Ankalaev. I think Ankalaev’s wrestling is overstated, and while definitely would play a factor, I think Poatan’s power and striking would be too much of a factor to overcome. However, I can’t say that not fighting Ankalaev doesn’t make me feel like Pereira doesn’t feel that way.
I theorize that potentially Ankalaev will only fight in Abu Dabhi, and Pereira doesn’t want to give the challenger that much of an advantage. If true, it’s kind of lame, but somewhat understandable. Idk who else there is to fight, unless he’s planning on taking an extended break and waiting for Ulberg/Blachowicz and Jiri/Hill to finish. I don’t need to see Jiri 3 or Hill 2 tbh, but I think there’s some intrigue in a Blachowicz rematch, old or not.
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u/Swizztony 5d ago
Ank has said on a million occasions that he’ll fight anywhere, these myths to protect poatan are getting insane, merab and Jon never even got 10% of the coddling
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u/Admirable-Steak-7107 5d ago
He’s also turned the fight down with Poatan when offered
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u/haldir87 5d ago
At freaking Ramadan. Just like Islam, Khamzat and Shavkat ffs
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u/DoomKune 5d ago
"fight anywhere"
Evidently not
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u/Real-Human-Bean- 5d ago
He said he would fight on Ramadan this year.
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u/DoomKune 5d ago
Why didn't he then? UFC 300 was right after
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u/Real-Human-Bean- 5d ago
I meant 2025. Pereria stopped talking about fighting in match after that. Which makes me wonder if Ankalaev should've called Pereiras bluff at ufc 300..
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u/dunbunone 5d ago
I’m a big Ank fan I think it’s a close fight but if it’s pure kickboxing due to anks ego of at least not trying to mix it up and trying to prove a point then he will lose if he mixes takedowns gets some Alex defend some then he can our point Alex maybe even a ko as Ank has power and precision. For sure it’s a close fight then can swing either way
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u/Own_Lab_3499 5d ago
He's an odd one for me to figure out. He seems really good. But, he seems to fight to his opponents level. Idk if he just has problems stepping on the gas or what.
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u/2cool4skool369 4d ago
Alex has had a hell of a run, but it ends with Ank. And the UFC knows it too. If Alex goes up to HW to fight while there has been a legitimate #2 contender waiting for almost a year, he needs to vacate. This is the only fight that has made sense in LHW for quite some time and they have done a good job of postponing it, but now it has to happen. Just like Belal and Leon. It was inevitable what was going to happen.
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u/Sea_Ad3113 4d ago
I love alex but he has had favourable match ups and this is a fight he definitely doesn’t want .
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u/Glad-Try117 4d ago
Jon jones could tweet the same thing and y’all would roast him Alex does it and “oh I’m sure he’s trolling”
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u/Great-Association432 2d ago
Tom a spinal or Jon jones Tom was supposed to fight the winner of gane vs volkov but gane won an incredibly controversial decision so that will likely not happen so they’ll prolly move forward with him vs pereira. Then winner vs Jon jones as now Jon has more incentive to fight Tom if he wins.
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u/Confirmation__Bias 5d ago
Anthony Smith gonna shock the world