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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Matt Erickson and Mike Bohn

Manager says no politics: Alex Pereira’s next title defense will be vs. Magomed Ankalaev

It’s MMA, so anything can happen, Ali Abdelaziz acknowledged. But absent some fluke, he says the next UFC light heavyweight title fight is all but locked up.

It’s been the consensus, anyway, that 205-pound champ Alex Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) will take on Abdelaziz client Magomed Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) next, but Pereira has made some intimations that the UFC might have other ideas. And Abdelaziz thinks there might be a little gamesmanship going on from the Brazilian.

If so, it’s for naught, is what the longtime manager surmises.

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