Alex Pereira has aimed an angry rant at ‘s—ty champion’ Magomed Ankalaev ahead of UFC 320.
The light heavyweight duo are set to rematch for 205lb gold at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on October 4.
Magomed Ankalaev won a unanimous decision at UFC 313 when they first fought earlier this year.
Since then, the new champion has gone back and forth with Alex Pereira, making it pretty awkward when they recently bumped into each other at the UFC Performance Institute.
Alex Pereira rips ‘coward’ Magomed Ankalaev
On Tuesday, Alex Pereira shared a video titled ‘Magomed Ankalaev is a dog s— champion’ to his YouTube channel.
During the 16-minute clip, ‘Poatan’ detailed his day, which included a visit to the UFC PI in Las Vegas.
The Brazilian fan favorite says his Ankalaev was there too, but hid to avoid bumping into him ahead of UFC 320.
“Something funny happened just now when I was leaving the PI,” Pereira said in Portuguese.
“I saw Ankalaev’s coach there. I stayed to myself. I didn’t see Ankalaev. The funny thing is, when I left the PI and got in my car, someone from my team was still inside, and he heard the girl from the PI say to Ankalaev, ‘He can come out now, he’s already left’.
“Like, damn. He was hiding. The guy hid in a little room, man. This guy thinks I’m gonna run into him and start fighting. Do I look stupid, bro? The fact the guy hides in a room because I’m in the same place as him, ah man, he’s a chump. He’s a chump.
“I’ll keep to myself. I’ll never pick a fight with the guy, never start something. Of course, unless he comes at me and I have to defend myself. But what kind of champion is that man? A s— champion. I know that’s harsh, but he’s a s—ty champion. Not because of what he says, but for hiding in a room today. He’s shown he’s a coward, man.
“We’ll see. Hiding now. We’ll be locked in a cage. Locked in there, unless he jumps the fence. He’s a s—ty champion this guy.
Alex Pereira faces major weight cut
Alex Pereira’s angry rant may have been triggered by the fact that he is currently shedding weight.
The 38-year-old recently showed he faces a huge weight cut by stepping on the scales and sharing the result with his social media followers.
On Sunday, Pereira weighed 106.2kg, which roughly translates to slightly more than 234lbs.
29lbs is what he needs to lose to make the light heavyweight limit ahead of UFC 320.
Pereira has never missed weight in the UFC. He’ll be fine, but the next 10 days won’t be fun for him.