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Former Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Magomed Ankalaev has opened up about dealing with his last defeat.
The Russian is coming off his light heavyweight title loss in a rematch against Alex Pereira at UFC 320 last year, and while the result was difficult to accept, he's now only looking ahead.
Ankalaev discusses recovering from the Alex Pereira defeat before facing Bogdan Guskov
While Ankalaev had dominantly dethroned Pereira in their first outing, "Poatan" avenged the loss by knocking out the Dagestani 205-pounder in just 80 seconds in their rematch. The loss was also Ankalaev's first since 2018, when he was submitted in his Octagon debut.
Ankalaev admits that it hasn't been easy recovering from his last loss, which was frustrating. However, the former champ has cleared his head ahead of his return at UFC Abu Dhabi. With fresh motivation to return to the win column, Ankalaev vows that things will be different in his upcoming fight.
"It's been a long time; I have wanted to come back," Ankalaev told Red Corner MMA. "I had some issues, injuries. It's been hard to return. Everyone knows that the last fight was a frustrating loss. It's fair to say I was devastated. But I'm back. Fresh thoughts, cool head, if you will. Now everything is going to be completely different."
Ankalaev (20-2) was originally scheduled to face Khalil Rountree on July 25 at UFC Abu Dhabi. However, Rountree pulled out due to an injury and has been replaced by Bogdan Guskov on two weeks' notice.
