The feud between Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira has continued ahead of UFC Abu Dhabi.<\/strong><\/p>\n Ahead of his return this weekend, Ankalaev finally addressed his loss to Pereira and a few of the health issues that he was coping with heading into the rematch.<\/p>\n \u2018Poatan\u2019 was capable of avenge his prior loss to the Russian in only 80 seconds before vacating the sunshine heavyweight title and leaving the division.<\/p>\n Despite this, Ankalaev has said he\u2019s still chasing a trilogy with Pereira, though his rival is seemingly not entertaining this concept.<\/p>\n The UFC Abu Dhabi headliner was light heavyweight champion for just 7 months \ud83d\ude33<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Underneath an Instagram post from Red Corner MMA<\/a>, Alex Pereira responded to Magomed Ankalaev saying they still have unfinished business to settle.<\/p>\n \u2018Poatan\u2019 made reference to how quiet his former opponent has been ever since their rematch resulted in a devastating first round stoppage, writing, \u201cHahahaha are you alive?\u201d.<\/p>\n The timing of Pereira\u2019s response allowed Ankalaev to deal with this when talking to the media ahead of his predominant event clash with Bogdan Guskov this Saturday.<\/p>\n At UFC 313, the Russian halted his rival\u2019s plans to maneuver as much as heavyweight by convincingly beating him to win the sunshine heavyweight title.<\/p>\n Ankalaev made reference to Pereira being stopped by Ciryl Gane when finally attending to move up when he was asked if he has a response for the Brazilian.<\/p>\n \u201cAlex Pereira will need to have been sleeping for a very long time because I consider he was put to sleep pretty hard so he will need to have just woken up and he will need to have forgotten that I\u2019m alive still,\u201d he said in a clip reposted by Red Corner MMA<\/a>. \u201cWell, if you’ve gotten a option to hook up with him or pass a message on my behalf, tell him that yeah, I\u2019m alive and well and I\u2019m waiting to see what he can show.\u201d<\/p>\n Magomed Ankalaev has said he doesn\u2019t mind which weight class a trilogy fight with Alex Pereira takes place in.<\/p>\n Despite suffering a setback on the White House, Pereira has said he\u2019ll be staying at heavyweight for the rest of his profession.<\/p>\n His former foe believes that the UFC could be fascinated with a 3rd fight between them because they each hold a win over one another.<\/p>\n Considering that the promotion didn\u2019t appear to indicate any interest in making the trilogy occur at light heavyweight, it\u2019s hard to assume that they\u2019d wish to do it at heavyweight either.<\/p>\nWill Magomed Ankalaev ever hold UFC gold again? \ud83d\udc51<\/h3>\n
![\"Magomed](\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2026\/07\/BE-86-819x1024.jpg\")
<\/div>Magomed Ankalaev says Alex Pereira will need to have just woken up from UFC Freedom 250 loss<\/h2>\n
![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/2025\/10\/GettyImages-2239291164-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/div>Magomed Ankalaev would want to maneuver as much as heavyweight to fight Alex Pereira again<\/h2>\n