Alex Pereira Explains Why He Liked His Rivalry With Adesanya More Than Ankalaev: “He’s Doing It Totally Wrong”
Alex Pereira isn’t exactly thrilled with the way his rematch against Magomed Ankalaev has been building.
After surrendering the light heavyweight title to Ankalaev in March, ‘Poatan’ will look to reclaim the crown when he steps back into the main event spotlight at UFC 320 in Las Vegas.
While it’s undoubtedly exciting anytime Pereira competes, there has been little fanfare surrounding his sequel scrap with Ankalaev. Some of that can probably be blamed on the Brazilian’s lackluster performance in their first meeting. But if you ask Pereira, it’s the lack of story that’s leaving fans a little uninterested.
“Just to answer that, because truly nothing compares to this story that we have with [Israel] Adesanya, since kickboxing we brought to MMA, brought to the biggest organization,” Pereira told MMA Junkie. “And man, so it doesn’t compare. It’s what I say, people don’t know how to do this media side like me and Adesanya already did.
“People think it’s just talking and you’ll earn more, you’ll be well seen, and we’re seeing that it’s not like that; you have to have a story. So he’s doing it totally wrong.”
Pereira and Adesanya had a well-documented history before they ever collided inside the Octagon, making that rivalry an easy sell for the UFC.
Pereira and Ankalaev have had a handful of intense verbal exchanges, including a brief back-and-forth at the UFC PI ahead of their rematch. But aside from that, it’s been fairly quiet between Ankalaev and the promotion’s top star.
