Written by Alex Pereira and Caio Borralho | Photo via Caio Borralho
The highly anticipated showdown between Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev goes down Saturday night in Las Vegas, when champion and contender meet for light heavyweight gold at T-Mobile Arena. A top-ranked UFC talent only sees one scenario in which Ankalaev comes out victorious at UFC 313.
Caio Borralho, unbeaten in seven octagon appearances at middleweight, had the chance to train with Pereira at The Fighting Nerds during a January trip “Poatan” made to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Borralho was impressed by the decorated kickboxer’s wrestling and grappling.
“We did some grappling training and he’s really evolved in that area,” Borralho told MMA Fighting. “That surprised me a lot. He knows what he’s doing, he knows the dangers and knows how to defend. With his strength, his size, it’s hard to train with him—even jiu-jitsu, wrestling, wall, whatever it is. He’s a very competitive guy and he knows how to train and teach. It was such a great exchange with the team not only for me and Pablo [Sucupira], but I believe it was good for him, too.”
Borralho said he’s learned some striking technique from the former two-division GLORY champion, and had his head coach Pablo Sucupira train Poatan for a few rounds in the gym. Pereira left Sao Paulo to resume his camp for UFC 313, and Borralho—who will be in the arena Saturday to assist teammate Mauricio Ruffy against King Green—expects a difficult contest.
“It won’t be an easy fight for either of them,” Borralho said. “I think Poatan has all it takes for knock him out at any moment just like he would with anyone in the world, you know? I think the only way Ankalaev can win this fight is if he stalls for five rounds, because I think that even submitting Poatan will be hard.”
Some see Ankalaev as a nightmare matchup for Pereira, who has won five in a row at light heavyweight with four knockouts. The Brazilian has only gone the distance once in this weight class, getting taken down three times en route to a three-round split decision victory over Jan Blachowicz in 2023.
“Poatan will be expecting that,” Borralho said of takedowns. “Poatan is smart and he will be waiting for openings and maybe even give away a position so [Ankalaev] goes for the submission and creates space for him to get back up, you know? He has that timing. I saw that a lot when I trained with him. His defense is great.
“I do think Ankalaev can take him down, but I think it’s harder than people think. I believe it will be a tough fight for both of them, but I do think Ankalaev’s only chance is to stall for five rounds. If not, Alex wins this fight.”