Magomed Ankalaev feels ready for UFC gold.
The UFC light heavyweight contender wants his shot at the title following his latest win inside the octagon. Ankalaev (17-1 MMA, 8-1 UFC) defeated former title challenger Thiago Santos (22-9 MMA, 14-8 UFC) in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 203 in Las Vegas.
The victory over Santos marked Ankalaev’s first main event in the company and also put him on an impressive eight-fight winning streak. And with that experience in his pocket, Ankalaev wants to take a crack at the belt.
“It’s completely up to the UFC and my manager, but in my opinion, I deserve the title shot next because I’m on an eight-fight winning streak and some of the fights I finish the guys,” Ankalaev told reporters at the UFCFight Night 203 post-fight press conference. “I’m ready.”
The fight against Santos was fairly uneventful, which is why Ankalaev is not 100 percent happy with his performance.
“To be honest I’m not glad with my performance totally because I expect him to be an entertaining fight, to strike more, but as I said it is what it is.”
Yet, despite the nature of the fight, Ankalaev feels his past plus the fact that he fought five rounds and won for the first time in his UFC career, has proved he’s next in line to take on the winner of the light heavyweight title fight between Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka.
“My goal was to fight the whole distance, to fight five rounds, and test myself to see if I’m ready for the title shot,” Ankalaev said. “Now I’m completely confident in myself and I’m ready for a big shot.”
Magomed Ankalaev ‘completely confident’ he’s ready for title shot following UFC Fight Night 203 win
