LAS VEGAS -- Magomed Ankalaev entered the Octagon as public enemy No. 1 to fan favorite Alex Pereira and left as the new UFC light heavyweight champion Saturday night in the main event of UFC 313.
Ankalaev beat "Poatan" to the punch in the first half of the fight and smothered his offense with clinch work in the second half. His stifling performance put a disappointing end to Pereira's historic light heavyweight title run, sucking the air out of T-Mobile Arena in a unanimous decision: Two judges scored it 48-47 and a third judge had it 49-46.
"I don't think anything surprised me," Ankalaev said. "I think I could have done a better job in the fight, but something just wasn't working out. But anyway, I'm really happy that I won."
UFC president Dana White said afterward that an immediate rematch will "probably" happen.
Pereira (14-3), who rose to stardom over the past year and a half, had a chance to make history by becoming the first UFC fighter to successfully win a title fight five times in less than 500 days. He didn't get anything going, however, as Ankalaev (20-1-1) forced him to fight off his back foot for much of the bout. The pressure prevented Pereira from uncorking his signature left hook and was relegated to looking for counter opportunities, which Ankalaev never gave him.
Pereira deliberately targeted Ankalaev's legs with calf kicks in the opening round, hoping to compromise the challenger's mobility. It was a solid start as 11 of 14 leg kicks landed, but Ankalaev stayed on the front foot.
Ankalaev shifted the momentum in the second round as he surprisingly beat Pereira to the punch. A left hand stunned Pereira midway through the round and a right hand rocked him in the final seconds.
As the fight wore on and Pereira fell behind on the scorecards, Ankalaev shifted to crowding the champion with clinch work and utilizing the takedown threat to push Pereira against the cage fence and wear him down. The strategy worked, and Pereira appeared unsure in the corner before Round 5.
"We know that he puts people against the fence, and he plays that game, but giving him the win with a game plan like that, it kind of incentivizes people to do that against people," Pereira said in his postfight interview in the Octagon. "People might say it's a boring style, but when a guy gets a win doing that, it kind of makes people want to do that, too."
The style was more than effective, however, and by the final round, Ankalaev appeared headed for victory. Ankalaev played it safe by staying out of range of any significant punishment from a desperate Pereira. When Pereira finally landed the left hand, it didn't have much on it. The punch brought the crowd to its feet, but Ankalaev immediately swarmed in, clinched and stymied any momentum swing as the final seconds ticked off.
In his postfight news conference, Ankalaev disputed Pereira's assessment of the fight, saying he was the clear aggressor.
"I kept on moving forward, I kept on pressuring him, and he kept on running away from me," Ankalaev said. "For 20 minutes, this guy was running away from me. I heard at the end of the fight, he was saying that he wasn't sure why the victory was given to me. Who's supposed to be given the victory? I've been pressuring him the entire time, he was running away for 20 minutes and then he's wondering who's supposed to get the victory.
"Listen, I'm happy for a rematch if he wants a rematch, but then maybe in the rematch, he could fight for real and not just run away the entire time."
Pereira landed more total strikes than Ankalaev (108-102), but 48 of those strikes were leg kicks, which didn't affect the fight. Even though Ankalaev was 0-for-12 on takedown attempts, his control time of 5 minutes, 42 seconds was the difference in the fight.
Ankalaev's win ended a historic reign from Pereira. The Brazilian won the light heavyweight title in November 2023 and defended it three times in 2024 as he rapidly ascended to stardom with each knockout win more impressive than the last.
However, Ankalaev was always the most dangerous threat to Pereira, having gone unbeaten in the Octagon since dropping his UFC debut in 2018. When they finally got in the Octagon, Ankalaev showed why he is known as "The Boogeyman" of the 205-pound division.
Ankalaev extends his unbeaten streak at light heavyweight to 14, second in UFC history to Jon Jones.
Although the crowd booed the result, it was clear there was a new leader of the light heavyweights.