"If I'm going to be a champion, it's one that doesn't need to be protected."

Magomed Ankalaev, the UFC's number one ranked light heavyweight, deserves a fight with champion Alex Pereira as much as anyone, but he can't get the fight. Magomed is a modest, calm man, he can get out of his temper only by his opponent's behavior in the cage or outright rudeness. Recently, however, in his social networks he began to regularly publish insolent posts addressed primarily to Pereira (and sometimes to Jon Jones).

From November 22-24, the MMA World Championship was held in Khanty-Mansiysk, and Ankalaev was the guest of honor there. At the press conference, he admitted that the tweets are not made by him, but by his manager Ali Abdel-Aziz. But strictly in coordination with Magomed. And after the tournament Ankalaev gave an interview to Izvestia and Sport-Express, and in such a tone that it became clear: Abdel-Aziz really puts out these posts not only at will.

We understand that the UFC protects its champions

- What do you think of Jon Jones' win over Stipe Miocic?

- I didn't watch the whole fight, just the end - how [Stipe] lost. Well that's what we expected Jon Jones to win. Stipe had a simple three-year layoff, and Jones fought during that time.

- How do you beat a fighter like Jones? He has the highest fight IQ.

- You can beat Jones. You have to face him. Jones has wrestling, he has standup. You gotta feel him, and then you gotta find the keys. I think you can find the keys to him. We saw him in the Gustafsson fight. That fight could have gone back and forth, an even fight. You could even say Gustafsson won. And then there's Dominic Reyes. Everyone unanimously says he [Jones] got taken out. So I think it's possible to win it. I think if he performs in the future, if we have a fight with him, we can pass him.

- You published a picture of a young Tom Aspinall wearing a T-shirt with "Dagestan" written on it and joked that this is the real reason why Jones doesn't want to fight Tom.

- Yeah. We understand that the UFC protects its champions. Aspinall, as we know, is speedy, fights well. This is going to be a tough fight for Jones, so I think he's avoiding this fight.

- During the week of Jones' fight with Stipe, you mentioned him a lot on social media, and after Jones' win, not a single mention. What does that have to do with it?

- There was talk about him wanting to fight Pereira, my future opponent, who is the champion in my division. So we answered him, "You first sort out where you are and then we can talk about other things."

- You admitted that your social networks are run by Ali Abdel-Aziz and said that he coordinates all publications with you. Don't you think the posts are too bold?

- We discuss [publications], and based on what I say, he writes, he adds a little something. And so - there is no such thing as him saying it himself, expressing himself.

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- Let me give you an example: there was published a photo of Pereira and Jones and a caption with an emoji of a goat, meaning the GOAT (the greatest of all time. - "Izvestia"), and a chicken.....

- It was a tease to... What's the right way to put it... When both avoid their opponents, then the expression.... Anyway, it was Americanized, yeah. The goat is somehow called [in America] ....

- The GOAT.

- Yes, such an American theme.

- What does chicken mean?

- Chicken means an easy fight. The fact that to me it's not a hard fight, it's such an easy fight. The fact that we can eat it kind of (smiles).

Pereira doesn't have wrestling, he can't stand up

- What was your impression of Pereira in the fight with Rountree? Did you get the impression that he had problems with his left-handedness? He often missed a front right side kick from Rountree.

- If Rowntree had shown his spirit, would have gone a bit forward.... You could see that when he was hit, he was starting to give up ground. Pereira felt that when he started getting hit, charging into punches, he started backing off. At the expense of that, Pereira, you could say, pulled the fight out. And so we saw how open he [Pereira] is, how he's hitting every punch he gets.

He's got a lot of problems, not just with lefties. The one thing he has is that all opponents who come out against him are afraid. He has a lefty sidearm that everyone bumps into. If you take the striking, he's a standard striker. I haven't seen him technically cheat and drop anyone. Everyone knows what he does, and he does it well.

- You probably remember the video of Khabib Nurmagomedov not letting Corey Anderson get up from under him. You've trained with Corey in the past, he's a former UFC top. Do you think Khabib would do the same thing with Pereira?

- With Corey, I worked with him for a long time. We had two camps together. I wouldn't say he has a very good wrestling. Yes, he fights, he's tough, he's forward. I've never fought Khabib, I've never faced him, so it's hard to answer that question. And so - Pereira has anyone who can [wrestle].... Khabib if he gets him down, he'll finish him, because Pereira doesn't have wrestling, he doesn't know how to get up. He hasn't been in heavy fights yet where wrestling is present.

- Basically, would Khabib not let Pereira get up?

- One hundred percent.

My move up to heavyweight is very possible

- Before your fight in Abu Dhabi we asked about Artem Vakhitov. In your opinion, who is a more skillful puncher in MMA - Pereira or Vakhitov?

- Of course, Pereira is better for fights, as he is a puncher. And technically Vakhitov is two heads above him.

- Would it be interesting to meet Artem in the future?

- I don't have such a fighter, with whom I would like to fight, to test myself. I had not such an easy way, I fought with all the tops, and now I want a belt, I want to be a champion. And so - if I will be a champion, I will be such a champion that I don't need to protect. If it will be Vakhitov or another one, the one who deserves it, the road is open to him. A champion should fight someone who deserves this chance. I know how it feels when the champion refuses, does not give you a chance to fight, so sometimes it makes you angry, sometimes you calm yourself down.

- Am I right to understand that there's nothing personal about Pereira?

- I don't have anything personal to the fighters. We don't have that we're out of line. We have, you could say, a fighter's hatred for each other. We have to fight. He's going to be cornered, he's going to have to either release the belt or fight me. But as a man, I don't hate him.

- If you become the light heavyweight champion, is the next goal to become the heavyweight champion?

- We're not thinking about that yet, but every year my weight goes up. It's quite possible [moving up to heavyweight] if I manage to become the champion [at flyweight], if my weight goes up. If the weight goes up, I'll go up to fight the tops in the heavyweight division. But it's all "if."