Brendan Schaub echoes Din Thomas’ sentiment on Magomed Ankalaev’s value to the UFC.<\/p>\n
Thomas, who works as a UFC analyst, stirred up controversy when he doubled down on his suggestion of trading UFC light heavyweight champion Ankalaev to the PFL for Dakota Ditcheva<\/a>. Not only does Schaub agree, but he thinks Ankalaev as champion is detrimental to the UFC.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) runs things back with Alex Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) in Saturday’s UFC 320 headliner from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (pay-per-view, FX\/ESPNews\/Disney+, ESPN+<\/a>).<\/p>\n “The UFC business model now would make more money off Dakota than with Magomed,” Schaub said on his YouTube channel<\/a>. “A matter of fact, Magomed is actually hurting the UFC. It’s f*cked up to say because if he goes out and beats Alex, who’s a much bigger star than him, it actually hurts the UFC.”<\/p>\n Schaub went on to explain how, unlike Ankalaev, the UFC would be maximizing money and endorsements deals with Ditcheva.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n “A pretty girl who is very talented, who’s a 500 fighter, we can get more money out of than this guy from Dagestan who’s a beast but isn’t good on the mic,” Schaub said. “His sh*t talking is a little dicey, and he’s also so good that the stars you want to be the face of the UFC, he beats. That’s an issue.”<\/p>\n