Coach Conversation | Magomed Ankalaev vs Alex Pereira 2

I think for Ankalaev, his strength is the ability to wrestle. His ability to control distance, stay out of harm's way, stay out of the power shots from Alex — his level changes and his feints; he can close the distance at any point in time, which doesn’t allow Alex to use his power.

Kyte:I certainly agree with you on both of those, and I think one of the things with Ankalaev that is so fascinating is that we think of him as primarily as a wrestler because he’s Dagestani, because he’s got that in his tool kit, but it’s almost just there as a threat; it’s just there as the thing you have to be aware of because if he wants to and when he chooses to, he can get inside, get you to the ground, but he’s happy just having you think about it the whole time.

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It’s not Merab (Dvalishvili) where he’s chasing you the whole time, trying to get you down or even guys that exclusively want to be in the clinch, looking for takedowns; it’s just that you have to be thinking about the whole time because he can (wrestle) and I think that creates a different challenge than when it is a guy like Merab where it’s just “He’s gonna come 15 times a round.”

Castillo:Yeah, I definitely agree. I think his ability to fight southpaw and orthodox rally changes the game too because he can shoot from different stances, from open stances. And because he can go southpaw, it takes away the power of the calf kick from Alex.

In the first fight, he did a good job of staying on the outside and doing a better job of hand-fighting, level-changing, and keeping Alex guessing. I was surprised he was able to keep him on his back foot for the majority of the fight. If he wanted to, he could have stayed in the cage and fought that fight, but he didn’t.

I don’t necessarily see anything changing from what he did in that fight to this fight, except for possibly Alex being more aggressive to start off.

Kyte: When you’ve got a guy whose No. 1 weapon is that power, is there a concern, a worry that they just are sitting on that power a little bit?

It felt in that fight that —yes, Ankalaev did a lot of things right, but it feels at times that Alex can at times sit on it, waiting for that opportunity, rather than going out and manufacturing those opportunities.

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Castillo: I agree with that, too.

He just has to go out there and touch, throw the combinations. He’s a finisher, he knows, but I think he just needs to stay more relaxed, throw more volume out there. Throwing more volume, seeing where your opponent slips, seeing his reactions is going to help you more than just making sure you’re not getting taken down, keeping on the outside.

Path to Victory

Kyte: What’s the path to victory for each guy in this one?

Castillo:I think it’s controlling the distance for Ankalaev: maintaining the distance, controlled pressure, feinting, level-changing, keeping him guessing, backing him up into the cage, and at any point in time, starting to wrestle.

He doesn’t have to wrestle — he can control him against the cage, and depending on the ref, they might break it up or they might not. As long as he does enough to stay active, he’ll just keep winning the rounds, like in the first fight. He kept winning the rounds, not really doing too much, but doing enough, other than in the second round, which is where I think he clipped him.

Other than that, he was able to grab rounds without too much volume on either side.

Kyte: Yeah, it wasn’t ever wide margins. It’s never — yes, he wins the rounds, and I don’t think there is any disputing that he won the rounds because he’s clearly more active and effective, but like you said: outside of the round where he clipped him, it’s never “He won that going away and he’s absolutely bodying Alex.” It’s like you said: he’s active, he’s controlling a little, getting shots in here and there; doing the smart thing of keep touching, keep throwing, don’t let there be too many moments where there are long stretches where you’re not doing anything.

Castillo:At any given point in each round, there was no clear victor, so whoever does a better job of being more active in the later part of the rounds —45, 30 seconds —that may sway things because of the lack of activity in the round, and I think Ankalaev is going to be able to do a better job of slowing things down and keeping Alex on his back foot.

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For Alex, I think he’s really just got to go —he’s got to throw combinations out there, see what his reactions are, but then at the end of the day, he needs to start getting off, and whether that’s low kicks, body kicks, head kicks, and punches off of those, he’s just got to bring a little more volume than he did in the last fight.

Kyte: He’s never been a real high-volume guy, but it feels like in his last two fights, he’s not been extra careful, but we haven’t seen the aggression we’re used to seeing.

Whether that is because it’s taking him longer to make reads because Khalil (Rountree Jr.) in Salt Lake City and Ankalaev the first time are presenting things that he’s not able to solve as quickly as he was against Jiri Prochazka or Jamahal Hill, or he’s a little bit out of rhythm, it’s like he’s giving away rounds.

Castillo: I just think he needs to push the pace and go out there and put it on the line, instead of staying safe. He’s already a legend of the sport, and I don’t think anyone is going to fault him for rushing forward and maybe getting caught; I think people would maybe look down on him more for waiting too much, sitting on the back leg, rather than being exciting, being the finisher that everyone wants to see.

X Factor

Kyte: Okay, so what’s the X-factor here? What’s the one thing that can tilt the outcome one way or the other?

Castillo: I think it’s Pereira’s ability to pressure forward and stay off the back foot. I think that is going to be a really big one — him staying in the center of the cage, if not backing Ankalaev off; the forward pressure is going to force him to throw volume because he has to, and if they go into the clinch position, I would stay out of the clinch if I were him.

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Kyte: It definitely feels like one of those fights where — and people think it sounds simplistic when we say it, but whoever is dictating that term of engagement, whoever is the one asserting pressure, is the one that is most likely going to be winning because the other guy is out of their natural comfort zone.

Pereira is certainly a good counter-striker; the power is always there, and he can drop you when he’s backing up, but he’s better when he’s going forward. And Ankalaev needs to be going forward; we saw that in the first fight.

Castillo: Yeah —who’s gonna come forward? Sometimes you look at these fights, look at the pros and cons of each fighter, and you think “this might happen and this might happen,” set up a lot of game plans going into the fight, but it’s just go forward.

Kyte:Go out there and get it. Who wants it more?

Castillo: Just pressure forward and keep your chin tucked.

Coaching Curiosity

Kyte: As a coach, is there a point of curiosity for you? Something you’re looking to see that can influence this fight? That piques your interest, like what adjustments each guy makes after that first fight?

Castillo:I feel like if Round 1 isn’t a banger, then it’s probably gonna be the same fight it was before. If Pereira is not gonna come out there with forward pressure or urgency to start us off, than those rounds are just gonna slip away.

It’s hard to just wake up, snap out of it in Round 3, and you’re down two rounds, three rounds, and you’ve got to win this fight. You have those few that can turn it up in the third round, fourth round, fifth round, but they’re few and far between.

I think Round 1 will be a huge indicator on how the fight is going to progress and if there is gonna be a finish or not. So fingers crossed that the first five minutes is a banger and we get a classic.

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Kyte:Yeah, if he comes out and lets Ankalaev get ahead of him, we may be right back where we were in March.

Castillo: It’ll be Groundhog Day! I hope it’s not —I’m ready for a great fight, so hopefully it’s two guys coming forward, meeting in the middle, and the fans win.