Being an awesome fighter doesn’t at all times translate into becoming a star in combat sports.
The UFC brand sells itself at this point but MMA as a complete needs stars so as to really thrive and generate buzz across the sporting world.
For each Alex Pereira who seemingly can’t put a foot unsuitable on this regard, you could have his UFC 313 opponent, Magomed Ankalaev.
Many fight fans have claimed for several years that the Russian fighter is the 205-pound champion in waiting but his personality and fighting style doesn’t at all times make him probably the most exciting option.
Even when he did get a shot on the vacant title, his fight with Jan Blachowicz at UFC 282 resulted in a draw which led to him working his way back up the pecking order.
Ankalaev’s long awaited second shot on the gold is just across the corner as he prepares to challenge ‘Poatan’ on March 8 in Las Vegas but one former fighter believes that he ought to be used as a bargaining chip.
Din Thomas says that the UFC should trade Magomed Ankalaev for PFL star Dakota Ditcheva
During a recent appearance on The Casuals MMA podcast, former fighter turned commentator Din Thomas spoke concerning the need for promotions to create stars.
The conversation then turned to the PFL who’ve acquired multiple big names lately without necessarily developing their very own.
There are some exceptions to that rule and by far probably the most obvious one is Dakota Ditcheva.
The undefeated striking specialist emerged as certainly one of the highest flyweights on the planet last yr after winning 4 consecutive fights with 4 finishes to assert the World Championship.
There was numerous talk ever since about whether the undefeated 26-year-old will step contained in the Octagon in some unspecified time in the future within the near future.
Whilst it seems incredibly unlikely that the PFL would swap Ditcheva in the same exchange to when the UFC and ONE Championship swapped Demetrious Johnson for Ben Askren back in 2018, Thomas quickly named Magomed Ankalaev as a man that might go the other way within the transaction.
“They don’t have stars. I mean they got Dakota Ditcheva, who’s a star.” Thomas said.
“I’m like, ‘Yo please listen, in the event you guys like MMA, do that for MMA. Trade her to the UFC, you already know she belongs within the UFC’. Just trade, listen, eliminate Ankalaev within the UFC, trade her for Ankalaev, we don’t need Ankalaev, you already know what I’m saying. He’s not getting the title, we don’t need this guy, trade him for Dakota. Ankalaev will fit right in on the PFL, one other guy that nobody knows about that’s really good.”
Magomed Ankalaev could finally reach the highest at UFC 313
Magomed Ankalaev can have had to attend an extended time and constantly prove himself to earn his title shot at UFC 313 but now his fate is in his own hands.
Within the fight capital of the world, he’ll look to dethrone certainly one of the largest stars in the game today in a matchup that many consider to be the hardest test of Alex Pereira’s profession to this point.
Ankalaev has had to beat numerous hurdles but after doing that, he’s now only one fight away from having the facility in his hands.
Beating ‘Poatan’ won’t be easy but it surely’s exactly what Ankalaev has been working towards despite the entire pushback that he has faced along the best way.
