“Dana White, I love it”: UFC fans react to Magomed Ankalaev’s latest announcement

Current light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev recently posted on his social media X, talking about his upcoming bout. The Dagestani fighter, after exactly 10 days of securing the title, announced that a date has been fixed already and shall be revealed once the opponent confirms his participation too. The announcement has generated a buzz amongst the fans as well as the entire MMA community as to who will be the opponent. Especially with a rematch being in talks with Alex Pereira, a major chunk of the audience believes that it is going to be the Brazilian fighter. An official confirmation from the UFC and its president, Dana White, is expected once the opponent agrees to the fight.
The UFC 313 was held on March 8, 2025, at the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, United States. While the fans were excitedly looking forward to the bout, the result came as a wave of shock, as Ankalaev secured the win over Pereira by a unanimous decision of the judges. Pereira, even though he put up a good fight in the first round; however, Ankalaev took over in the following rounds, making the fight incline towards his favor. Despite this, many fans and critics believed that Pereira deserves a rematch, also because a win would have secured him a match against champions like Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall.
While the speculations for a rematch were still going on, Ankalaev made a statement on X, which even fuelled the speculations more.
“I have a date and I accepted already, I hope my opponent will accept too. This time there will be no 5 rounds, I don’t get paid by the hour”

One of the users stated, “We are now in the Big Ank Era”

Another user wrote, “Rumble in the jungle! Big Ank vs Poatan 2!”

“You’re gonna make Alex your bitch No Chama”

"Insane aura. Cook that half kick merchant"

While fans are excited about this upcoming bout, a section of them talk about how Dana White has strategically planned this to determine the future change in the ranking dynamics within the UFC divisions.
“Dana already trying to get the belt off him”

“@danawhite I love it , I love it”

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Ankalaev’s post has garnered mixed reactions from the fans. Most of them are speculating about the possible opponent. A section of them believes that it is Alex Pereira, while others believe that Pereira needs to take some time off and it might be someone else as well. Only time will tell who the opponent is.