Manager makes wild injury claim amid Alex Pereira’s revenge KO over Magomed Ankalaev

Magomed Ankalaev’s manager has made quite the claim about his fighter’s condition prior to a crushing defeat in his Alex Pereira rematch.

Ankalaev and Pereira met for a second time in the main event of UFC 320 back in October. Ankalaev was hoping to snatch his second victory over “Poatan,” but it wasn’t meant to be on the night. Pereira scored a first-round TKO finish to reclaim the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

During an appearance on Submission Radio, Ali Abdelaziz claimed Ankalaev’s pre-fight injury was so bad that he was unable to train for an absurd amount of time (via MMAMAnia.com).

“Ankalaev did not train for almost 40 days [coming into] this fight,” Abdelaziz told Submission Radio. “He came from Dagestan with messed up ribs and he sparred three times. Every time we had to stop the sparring. UFC knew about it. He was getting injection, he was getting cortisone, he was getting stem cell.”

“The only thing he did for 40 days was run, jump rope, hit mitts, and do conditioning. He barely did any sparring. He did zero wrestling, zero grappling. And, you know, I hope the UFC will appreciate what he done for them to keep the main event going on.”

Pereira didn’t walk out of UFC 320 unscathed despite a quick and emphatic finish. He suffered a broken foot in the short amount of time he was in the Octagon. As “Poatan” takes some time off to heal, he has been urging the UFC brass to book him in a bout with Jon Jones at the White House.

Whether or not Pereira will get his wish remains to be seen. UFC CEO Dana White admits he’d rather see Pereira handle some more business at light heavyweight, but he didn’t rule out “Poatan’s” request. Pereira has found himself in White’s good graces after stepping up for the promotion on numerous occasions.