On October 4 in Las Vegas at UFC 320, Magomed Ankalaev will defend the organization’s light heavyweight title against Alex Pereira. Bookmakers give preference to the champion, but this is not a reason for the Russian fighter to underestimate his opponent.

Once Ankalaev dominated all three rounds, but in the end he missed out on a sure victory. The Russian surrendered at the last second of the fight.

The cheeky Scot

On March 17, 2018, at the UFC Fight Night tournament in London, Russian fighter Magomed Ankalaev was scheduled to make his debut in Dana White’s organization. The Russian was on a streak of 9 victories, had no defeats in his record, and in the recent past was the holder of the WFCA championship title. His opponent, Scotsman Paul Craig, also emerged victorious from the octagon nine times, but lost in two previous fights, both times ahead of schedule.

Ankalaev was perceived as the clear favorite not only by experts and fans. Even Craig himself later spoke about his fears before the fight. The Scottish fighter was afraid that after another defeat his UFC career would end, and he didn’t have much hope for a favorable outcome of the fight with the promising Russian.

During the weigh-in, Paul tried to hide his fear behind his impudence. He literally tried to intimidate Ankalaev with a menacing look, but he only smiled in response. When the couple found themselves in the octagon, Craig’s pressure disappeared somewhere. Magomed carefully but purposefully began to beat him; his opponent’s attempts to snap back did not fundamentally change the picture.

Scottish lesson

A little trouble happened with Ankalaev in the first round. Craig managed to transfer him and even controlled him on the ground for some time. But the Russian seized the initiative and confidently took the ending, hammering his prone opponent in the last seconds of the starting segment. In the second round, Magomed continued to dominate: he had individual blows and series, but the Scot again had little success. However, the opponent made another transfer, but, as in the first case, Ankalaev quickly corrected himself. It seemed that fans of the Russian fighter simply had nothing to worry about.

Magomed Ankalaev and Paul Craig / Photo: © Brandon Magnus / Contributor / UFC / Gettyimages.ru

Craig’s corner before the final round tried to convince the Scot that his opponent was tired. The reality was different, Magomed continued to beat and put pressure on his opponent, tormented him on the ground and purposefully led the fight to victory. Paul later recalled that at that moment he was destroyed physically and mentally. The fighter had broken ribs, and a hole appeared in his jaw – the skin under his beard was cracked after another blow from the Russian. All that remained was to somehow survive the last seconds.

But then something strange happened, Craig caught his opponent in a choke hold. Ankalaev could not resist the triangle for long and gave up. This, of course, was unpleasant – to lose a fight in which, it would seem, it was simply unrealistic to remain without victory. But it was even more offensive for Magomed to realize that he gave up one second before the end of the fight. Just endure for a second, and here you have a victorious debut in the UFC! History decided otherwise, which, however, did not stop our fighter from going a long way to the title. Who knows, perhaps that Scottish lesson will greatly help the Russian defend his championship belt.

The UFC 320 tournament will be shown live on the Match TV channel, broadcasting starts on Sunday at 06:00 Moscow time. Broadcast on the channel “Match! Fighter” will begin at 01:00 Moscow time.