Ali Abdelaziz confirmed reports of Magomed Ankalaev’s injury ahead of UFC 320.
Ankalaev (21-2-1 MMA, 12-2-1 UFC) lost his light heavyweight title to Alex Pereira (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) by first-round TKO in their rematch a month ago at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Brazilian media, as well as UFC broadcast analyst Daniel Cormier, claimed Ankalaev broke his ribs during camp, and his manager explained what happened.
“Ankalaev did not train for almost 40 days for this fight,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. “He came from Dagestan with messed-up ribs, and he sparred three times. We had to stop sparring every time. UFC knew about it. He was getting injections, he was getting cortisone, he was getting stem cells. The only things he did for 40 days was run, jump rope, hit mitts and do conditioning.
“He barely did any sparring. He did zero wrestling and zero grappling. I hope the UFC will appreciate what he’s done for them to keep the main event going on, and I think he’s one fight away, honestly, from a title. He’s 1-1 with Alex. Alex did what he had to do. He won, and now Ankalaev needs to go out there and remind people why he was the best guy in the world – and I still believe Ankalaev is the best guy in the division.”
If it were up to Abdelaziz, Ankalaev should have never made the walk.
“I was begging him not to fight, but he did not listen,” Abdelaziz said. “Begged him, and it’s OK. Listen, we win together, we lose together, but when it takes this many years to become champion, you know the UFC is not going to give you any favors here. He stepped up for the company, and I hope they remember that.”
