While all eyes will be on the championship main event between Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira at UFC 267, the next challenger in the light heavyweight ranks could emerge a couple fights earlier on the card when Magomed Ankalaev steps into the Octagon to face former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir.
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Unbeaten in six straight since losing his promotional debut to Paul Craig at the very last second more than four years ago, the 29-year-old from Dagestan is 15-1 overall, but has been on a slow climb in the 205-pound weight division, his ascent delayed by a lingering rivalry with Ion Cutelaba that occupied the whole of his 2020 campaign.
After settling things with the Moldovan powerhouse on UFC Fight Island last October, Ankalaev pushed his winning streak to six with a smart, tactical victory over Nikita Krylov earlier this year, sending him into Saturday night’s bout with Oezdemir on the longest active winning streak in the division and puzzled as to why so few potential opponents are mentioning his name.
“It’s hard to say why they don’t call my name, because I have a winning streak in the division,” Ankalaev said on Wednesday morning via translator. “And then I see other guys have two, three fights and they’re already fighting for the title. This is what I wonder about.
“The road is a little bit long, but in one way, it’s good,” added the dynamic talent. “As you mentioned, I’m getting better with every fight, becoming a better fighter, but it’s important that we don’t (wait too long) because time is flying and I’m getting older.”
While he still has plenty of prime years left to compete, Ankalaev’s confusion about no one seemingly wanting to face him and others leapfrogging him in the pecking order is understandable, but also easily explained, at least in terms of the first piece.
Standing six-foot-three and having shown an incredibly diverse skill set, the once-beaten rising star profiles as a nightmare matchup for anyone in the division — someone equally capable of grinding out a victory using his wrestling as he is to land a front kick to the face that ends the fight, as Ankalaev did to Dalcha Lungiambula earlier in his UFC run.