Unlike Alex Pereira, Champ Magomed Anklaev Is ‘Hurting’ UFC, Per Yet Another UFC Legend

When Alex Pereira held the UFC 205-pound throne as the fastest dual-weight champ, his reign was glorious. The Brazilian also made a triple-KO title run in short order that made him a reckoning. However, when Magomed Ankalaev defeated Pereira, all those running gags about charm and starpower did not quite transfer over.

Alex Pereira is an ex-GLORY Hall of Fame kickboxer and even a former (cruiserweight bracket) one-time pro boxer. So all of his highlights come in the way of strikes (10-1 T(KO) ) and none in the way of solid ground game and submissions. Hence, when he met a wrestle-heavy Ankalaev at UFC 313: Pereira vs. Ankalaev PPV main event this March, his wrestling holes were quite visible.

However, Magomed Ankalaev, the Russian light heavyweight out of Teletl’, Dagestan, and now champion, is nowhere near the superstar status. But that doesn’t mean the fighting fanbase doesn’t heed his prowess. ESPN Post-fight analyst/coach Din Thomas recently caught flak for proposing a UFC-PFL trade-off between Ankalaev and Dakota Ditcheva

Nevertheless, fellow UFC legend and former fighter Brendan Schaub seconded Thomas’s commentary, suggesting that Ankalaev is “hurting the UFC.”

Now, …[the]UFC business model now would make more money [out] of Dakota than with Magomed…A matter of fact —– Magomed is actually hurting the UFC, it’s fu*ked up to say —– because if he goes out and beats Alex who’s a much bigger star than him…But it’s true. A pretty girl who is very talented who’s a 500 fighter, we can get more money out of than this guy from Dagestan who’s a beast but isn’t good on the mic, his sh*t talking — it’s a little dicey…

Brendan Schaub on his ‘Thiccc Boy’ Podcast (@ThicccBoy)| Episode 454

‘Big Ank’ was a ‘Master of Sport’ in Combat Sambo, and also went on to capture the 2016 Akhmat FC Light Heavyweight Grand Prix crown. So it’s no wonder, drab or not, his wrestling pressure would break someone like Pereira and stiff him out, fence-side. Team Teixeira MMA & Fitness’s Pereira spars and practices a sufficient amount of BJJ, trips, tricks, and anti-wrestling, but not enough. However, ending ‘Poatan’ and his 5-fight streak isn’t enough without a self-promo or mic charm. Something that ‘Dangerous’ Ditcheva has plenty of.

PFL’s Dakota Ditcheva, an English starlet with a 15-0 record, is often considered one of the best modern era WMMA strikers. Her star presence, mild but solid and on-point callouts, post-fight celebrations, and such have also made her quite famous. Something that has attributed to calls of her transferring over to UFC.

Thomas, hence called for it, and faced fire. When analyst Din Thomas floated an offer to Ankalaev to trade over to PFL for Dakota Ditcheva. the fighter lashed back and reposted an imagery of him getting KOed during his run in UFC. Alongside, he hit back with a “Who is Diana Thomas?” satire.

Din Thomas thinks UFC should trade Magomed Ankalaev for PFL’s Dakota Ditcheva pic.twitter.com/NgFLZDwVTl

— Dovy🔌 (@DovySimuMMA) September 21, 2025

Thomas argued that UFC is a star-driven spotlight where names like superstar Conor McGregor and former WMMA champ Ronda Rousey broke down walls and perceptions, and backed it up with trash-talking and promises of doing so. Rousey herself dominated the sport, punctuating 12 straight fights by stoppage. Meanwhile, he tagged that dominant forces like Ankalaev or even Khamzat Chimaev are a ‘disaster’ if they go from hot contenders to holding a belt.

A strike-heavy Ditcheva is fast approaching that status; meanwhile, there’s those like Alex Pereira who had quite a surge in popularity due to shock KOs and an interesting fighting style. UFC champ Ankalaev, predominantly a wrestler, lacks those, and his language barrier often sees him going viral, dissing with a phone translator in hand! Now, ex-UFC Heavyweight Schaub also backs up the thought that, as a champ, Ankalaev is not as popular, does not tout the highest-skilled digs, and hurts the branding.

Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira recently had a PI skirmish

Previously, on quite the surge in the UFC LHW division, Alex Pereira gets his immediate PPV title rematch soon. Mere days ahead of the upcoming UFC 320: Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2 card, though, the duo has run up quite the unlikely banter.

Except for UFC’s cold opens and promo videos, neither fighter is particularly talkative in English and tends to run silent hill when it comes to pre-fight buzz. ‘Poatan’ did his part and struck up a banter on his YT channel, saying Big Ank is a ‘dogsh*t’ champ and hid from him at the UFC Performance Institute.

This clown who I’m fighting said I’m hiding from him, I’m giving him a rematch and he should be very grateful.

I whooped him for 5 rounds and I did everything I wanted to him during the fight.

Let’s focus on fighting and not trash talking.

— Muhammad big ANK Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) September 24, 2025

The champion lashed back, promising another career KO loss for Pereira. The duo did meet up at last, but what ensued was a slow-running, translated trash-talking.

Alex Pereira is not only doubling down on what happened with Magomed Ankalaev at the #UFC P.I., but he's accusing his #UFC320 opponent of letting somebody else talk trash for him on social media. 👀 🤔 pic.twitter.com/kth83OvZIu

— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) September 30, 2025

Pereira’s Brazilian National Wrestling team coach/BJJ coach, Glover Teixeira, even enjoyed the oddity of the spectacle. Pereira later doubled down on his ‘fakeness’, saying Ankalaev isn’t actually the one doing the talking and there was some other mouthpiece in this little rivalry.

Magomed Ankalaev substitute Dakota Ditcheva billed as the ‘second-coming’ of Ronda Rousey

UFC fighter-turned-analyst Thomas’s views during his appearance on ‘The Casuals MMA’ Podcast might have gotten her into this Alex Pereira and champ Magomed Ankalaev dynamic. But Dakota Ditcheva has been linked to UFC for a while now due to her unheralded striking prowess.

The striking specialist also happens to be the PFL’s $1 million flyweight tournament winner and often gets linked to dream what-if matchups with the current queens of WMMA, like Valentina Shevchenko and Zhang Welli. But that’s not where the buck stops; often considered the best Women’s version of a pound-for-pound slugger, the PFL starlet was even considered a better version of ‘Ronda Rousey’.

Ronda [was], she was a pioneer in martial arts, women’s martial arts in particular, but the reason why she was so effective: she was particularly overwhelming in one range, right? …Whereas Dakota, she has shown for two years…has also shown that she’s a fully well-rounded MMA fighter…You know, she can grapple, she can stay safe if she hits the floor with a world-class jiu-jitsu player, more well-rounded.

UK MMA legend Dan Hardy in an exclusive to Bloody Elbow’s Jordan Ellis

FEMALE FIGHTER OF THE YEAR

We think so! – Vote for Dakota Ditcheva!https://t.co/5FM4Bf4QTZ pic.twitter.com/ePdYDDEfYQ

— Paradigm Sports (@ParadigmSports) September 24, 2025

‘Rowdy’ had a power-hungry, pinch-in-the-clinch, ground-and-pound style of fighting that amassed her a 12-2-0 record. But as a Judoka, the inaugural women’s bantamweight champ had a linear style of grab-and-throw and beatdown, which those like Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm could overcome with equal or greater skill.

Dakota douses better movement, if not the whole package, and is a pure shot-for-shot slugger. She also has shown sufficient anti-wrestling up until now and trains with her Team ATT mate (also Rousey’s former Judoka mate), Kayla Harrison. Harrison is a two-time PFL lightweight queen, a two-time Olympic Judoka ( –‍63 kg to –‍78 kg brackets), and the current UFC bantamweight champ in the women’s division. Both are top names in different MMA promotions who fight fans name as better variants of Rowdy.