{"id":635202,"date":"2026-04-28T01:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/635202\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T01:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T01:19:09","slug":"magomed-ankalaev-issues-cold-response-to-pretender-jiri-prochazkas-callout-easiest-fight-in-the-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/635202\/","title":{"rendered":"Magomed Ankalaev issues cold response to &#8216;pretender&#8217; Jiri Prochazka&#8217;s callout: &#8216;Easiest fight in the division&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev echoed Carlos Ulberg\u2019s \u2018pretender\u2019 label of Jiri Prochazka after UFC 327.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos Ulberg began a new era in the UFC light heavyweight division with a wild come-from-behind knockout of Jiri Prochazka at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/jiri-prochazka\/jiri-prochazka-slams-stripper-carlos-ulberg-ufc-327-comments\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">UFC 327 earlier this month<\/a>. After Prochazka injured Ulberg\u2019s leg just minutes into their fight, Ulberg caught Prochazka with a massive punch to win the then-vacant UFC light heavyweight title.<\/p>\n<p>Ulberg has since called out Prochazka\u2019s \u2018mercy\u2019 narrative stemming from the former champion\u2019s post-fight comments. The remarks made the rounds online after the fight, and Prochazka recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/jiri-prochazka\/jiri-prochazka-cold-message-critics-ufc-327-birth-firstborn-daughter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">doubled down on his stance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As Prochazka looks ahead to his return to the Octagon with a chance to get back into the title mix, he recently called out Magomed Ankalaev and Paulo Costa as potential opponents for his next fight. Ankalaev hasn\u2019t fought since a UFC 320 loss to Alex Pereira and is rumored to be on the upcoming UFC 329 card against a to-be-announced opponent.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the rumors, Ankalaev didn\u2019t take long to notice Prochazka\u2019s callout and didn\u2019t respond kindly.<\/p>\n<p>Magomed Ankalaev calls Jiri Prochazka the \u2018easiest fight\u2019 after recent callout<\/p>\n<p>In a recent post to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AnkalaevM\/status\/2048907348346069168?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">X<\/a>, Ankalaev answered Prochazka\u2019s callout.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJiri Prochazka got knocked out by a man with one leg and now he calls me out, after finding out I already have an opponent,\u201d Ankalaev posted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCarlos Ulberg is right, this guy is a pretender. He never wanted to really fight me and he\u2019s the number one easy fight in the light heavyweight division.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ulberg is expected to be sidelined six to eight months as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in the Prochazka fight. As of this writing, it\u2019s uncertain if the UFC matchmakers will book an interim title bout during Ulberg\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, tensions are ramping up between Prochazka and Ankalaev, and a matchup between them could be around the corner.<\/p>\n<p>Should the UFC book Magomed Ankalaev vs. Jiri Prochazka next? Let us know what you think in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev echoed Carlos Ulberg\u2019s \u2018pretender\u2019 label of Jiri Prochazka after UFC 327.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,29449,786,60150,25361,785,85,787],"class_list":["post-635202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-carlos-ulberg","tag-fighting","tag-jiri-prochazka","tag-magomed-ankalaev","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635202","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=635202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}