Magomed Ankalaev is the brand new gentle heavyweight champion following Saturday’s extremely anticipated UFC 313 headliner in Las Vegas.
It was a carefully contested battle between Chama and the challenger by way of 5 back-and-forth rounds. ‘Poatan’ began sturdy, touchdown a bevy of brutal calf kicks on Ankalaev, however the Dagestani would flip up the warmth in spherical two, connecting with an enormous proper hand that had the Brazilian boogeyman on wobbly legs simply earlier than the bell.
Pereira bounced again within the third spherical, however the whole lot modified within the fourth as Ankalaev deployed his clinch recreation, urgent Pereira up in opposition to the fence. Although Ankalaev provided little in the best way of offense through the exchanges, the management time was sufficient to sway the scorecards in his favor.
With the struggle probably tied up, Pereira got here out seeking to put Ankalaev on his again foot. For essentially the most half, he succeeded, touchdown a stiff head kick adopted by a jab that popped the challenger’s head again. That prompted Ankalaev to shoot in a single closing time and maintain Pereira up in opposition to the fence for the ultimate 80 seconds of the spherical.
With 25 minutes within the books, we went to the scorecards the place everybody inside T-Cellular Area was ready with bated breath to search out out if it was #AndNew or #AndStill.
Official Consequence: Magomed Ankalaev def. Alex Pereira by way of unanimous resolution (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)
With the win, Ankalaev extends his unbeaten streak to 14 straight and, extra importantly, turns into a UFC champion for the primary time in his profession.
take a look at highlights from Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313:
