{"id":621740,"date":"2026-04-21T16:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621740\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T16:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T16:35:10","slug":"ex-ufc-champion-magomed-ankalaev-calls-out-top-name-for-ufc-return-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/621740\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-UFC Champion Magomed Ankalaev Calls Out Top Name for UFC Return Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4y\">Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Magomed Ankalaev seems to have the perfect opponent in mind for his return fight. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"51\">Currently sitting at #1 in the official UFC light heavyweight rankings, Ankalaev\u2019s brief reign with the belt came to an end last October <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/magomed-ankalaev-reveals-brutal-injury-before-ufc-320-loss-alex-pereira\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">when he was stopped by Alex Pereira in an immediate rematch<\/a> of their first meeting at UFC 313. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"54\">The 33-year-old understandably took some time off after Pereira stopped him with strikes just 80 seconds into their headlining bout at UFC 320, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/ufc-star-magomed-ankalaevhuge-return-fight-news-after-losing-ufc-title\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">recently Ankalaev has started teasing fans <\/a>regarding plans for his return to the cage. <\/p>\n<p>Magomed Ankalaev Calls Out Ex-UFC Title Challenger Khalil Rountree Jr.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5a\">Taking to social media this week, Ankalaev called out former UFC title challenger Khalil Rountree Jr. and promised that the two could forgo grappling in order to simply stand and trade strikes in a potential fight. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Khalil my man I see you training a lot of wrestling with Khamzat but in reality you don\u2019t need it, all I would love to do with you is 25 mins of very high level striking master class if you can last this long<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Muhammad big ANK Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnkalaevM\/status\/2046405359854825897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5g\">&#8220;Khalil my man I see you training a lot of wrestling with Khamzat but in reality you don\u2019t need it, all I would love to do with you is 25 mins of very high level striking master class if you can last this long&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">Outside of his last fight with Pereira, Ankalaev has only experienced one other loss in his entire MMA career. The former champion famously lost his UFC debut against Paul Craig via last-second triangle choke in 2018 before rebounding with a nine-fight win streak that earned him his first crack at UFC gold. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kpra96d6bt2vh8axs4.jpg\" alt=\"Alex Pereira (red gloves) fights Magomed Ankalaev (blue gloves) during UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena.\" title=\"Alex Pereira (red gloves) fights Magomed Ankalaev (blue gloves) during UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena.\" width=\"5162\" height=\"3441\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5t\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Alex Pereira (red gloves) fights Magomed Ankalaev (blue gloves) during UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">Ankalaev and the division\u2019s former titleholder Jan B\u0142achowicz ended up fighting to a draw in their title bout at UFC 282. The following month, Jamahal Hill claimed the still-vacant light heavyweight belt by taking a unanimous decision over Glover Teixeira at UFC 283. <\/p>\n<p>UFC Light Heavyweight Division In Limbo After Carlos Ulberg Surgery<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">Following Pereira\u2019s decision to vacate the light heavyweight belt <a href=\"www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/ufc-reveals-fights-for-historic-white-house-card\" target=\"_blank\">ahead of his interim heavyweight title fight at \u201cUFC Freedom 250\u201d<\/a>, the UFC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/ufc-327-jiri-prochazka-vs-carlos-ulberg-free-live-stream-results-highlights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">booked a matchup between Ji\u0159\u00ed Proch\u00e1zka and Carlos Ulberg<\/a> to crown a new champion at UFC 327. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kpraaqwjrps09y0c7g.jpg\" alt=\"Carlos Ulberg (blue gloves) reacts after defeating Jiri Prochazka (red gloves)  during UFC 327 at Kaseya Center.\" title=\"Carlos Ulberg (blue gloves) reacts after defeating Jiri Prochazka (red gloves)  during UFC 327 at Kaseya Center.\" width=\"5908\" height=\"3938\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6d\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Carlos Ulberg (blue gloves) reacts after defeating Jiri Prochazka (red gloves)  during UFC 327 at Kaseya Center. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Ulberg will be sidelined for an extended period after winning the belt via first-round knockout, as \u201cBlack Jag\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/ufc-champion-carlos-ulberg-undergoes-surgery-brutal-injury-diagnosis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">had to overcome a knee injury that required surgery <\/a>to address. That leaves the division in an interesting spot, and a matchup between Ankalaev and Rountree could help clear things up and decide who might challenge Ulberg upon his return.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01kprac47tem24h76czn.jpg\" alt=\"Alex Pereira (red gloves) reacts after defeating Khalil Rountree Jr. (blue gloves) in a light heavyweight title bout during U\" title=\"Alex Pereira (red gloves) reacts after defeating Khalil Rountree Jr. (blue gloves) in a light heavyweight title bout during U\" width=\"5610\" height=\"3740\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6r\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Alex Pereira (red gloves) reacts after defeating Khalil Rountree Jr. (blue gloves) in a light heavyweight title bout during UFC 307 at Delta Center. | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6v\">\u201cWar Horse\u201d took a five-fight win streak into a light heavyweight title bid against Pereira at UFC 307 but was stopped in the fourth round. Rountree <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/khalil-rountree-dismantles-jamahal-hill-ufc-baku\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">rebounded with a unanimous decision against Hill<\/a> before falling to Proch\u00e1zka at UFC 320, and the 36-year-old currently occupies the #5 spot in the official UFC light heavyweight rankings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Magomed Ankalaev seems to have the perfect opponent in mind for his return&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":621741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-621740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=621740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}