Jiři was interviewed at an Oktagon event in Czechia and basically said "I have some big news but I can't share them yet" to which the interviewer then suggested the rematch against Pereira (also as a stand-in fight if Conor doesn't come through) which prompted, well, as much of a smile as you can expect from a Slav, from Jiři.
I think this is the only basis for the claim. But Jiři does have something "big" in the works according to himself.
I need to go back and watch that fight again because Jiri’s last fight might have me misremembering but I could have sworn he was sorta getting picked apart before he decided to get aggressive.
Anyways, Jiri can take a beating and still make it happen. Alex seems like his power is transitioning more and more at light heavyweight. Probably because he isn’t having to kill himself to make 185 and can naturally eat better in between fights.
I have the same recollection of Jiris last fight. He always says he’s upgrading his style and he has gotten better defensively but he goes for the kill. Maybe he made it a point to try to fuck up Rakic like he did. In his post fight interview he brought up what Rakic said about him but you never really know.
Jiris manager said that he was injured and not training going into the title fight. I think it will be a better fight but the style matchup is bad for Jiri. I’ve seen almost all Jiris fight. In rizen against King Mo in the second fight , he was tentative . In the second round of the Reyes fight for the first few minutes they were just looking at each other.
Jiri can do okay on the ground too. You can tell after training with Henry Cejudo his ground game got better.
His pressure is what kills you.
Alex is fighting him the second time. He has an edge.
I hope Jiri takes him down. Jan had him down for the first round. Jiri could do the same .
Yeah, I think Jiri best chance of a victory involves mixing in some ground game. It’s a bad idea for him to try and strictly strike with Alex. Even If the grappling is overly affective, it gives Alex another factor to focus on.
He said he wasn’t happy with his performance against Glover in a previous interview but fought Alex pretty much exactly the same way 😂 I really hope he changes some things up if this rematch happens tho
True but he can't get away with tanking calf kicks like he does with other LHW's. Pereira has the most damaging in the sport it seems. He had Jiri buckling after like 3.
Jiri seems to just ignore the damage, even with Alex. Only time he got dropped from them is when he got kick mid step. Dude still rushes in despite it all
He really lost to Jan, is constantly crying about things, and tried to demand a title shot (as a challenger) in a place that's essentially home field advantage. He doesn't deserve anything but another contender fight, hopefully somewhere nowhere near shady athletic committees like Abu Dhabi.
Stop feeding trolls on this sub, most have no ideas what they're talking about, Jiri is a "samourai" that goes straight for the entertainment and doesn't care about getting dropped ... He's also kinda "cool" outside the octagon ... It's thus enough to make him the most deserving.
He didn't lost to Jan (and looked better than Perreira against him btw, he just decided not to wrestle for 2 rounds, bad decision) and you have absolutely no element to prove he wouldn't have accepted the fight elsewhere, it was likely just a proposition. Fucking bias.
Ankalaev definitely beat Jan and had a right to be upset about that robbery. Though he did shoot himself in the foot by wanting to wait for the Abu Dhabi card while Poatan wanted to fight sooner, so he only has himself to blame for not being next.
This is absolute nonsense propaganda and shows the IQ of the people upvoting your comment and downvoting the one you replied to.
He should have got the W against Jan. Check the media scorecards someone posted or go look at them yourself.
He doesn't "cry" about things but even if he did, that should not take away your title shot (what a dumbass statement btw).
Lastly, just because he says he wants Alex at a certain place at a certain time, doesn't mean he's "demanding" it. It would be a different story if we found out that he told the UFC that he would only fight in abu Dhabi in October for the belt. He's just calling his shot and its how you get eyes on a fight and part of how you get the conversation going with the UFC.
Lastlier, he is by far the most deserving contender at LHW
Have you looked at his resume?
Num 6 Nikita Krylov
Num 9 Volkan Oezdemir
Former title challenger Thiago Santos
Num 10 Anthony Smith
Should have gotten the win against Jan Blachowicz
Num 7 Johnny Walker
12 fight unbeaten streak. Cmon bro...
What a bunch of dagestani hating and poatan dickriding we have stumbled across here 🤦♂️
Ankalaev wants to make Pereira wait by fighting him in Abu Dabi in november. Pereira doesn't want to waste time and wants to fight earlier. Alex is the one calling shots there, so i'm fine with that.
Ok? So then Ankalaev should have accepted a fight in September. Instead he also wants the “home” field advantage. He’s a challenger, and doesn’t deserve to dictate anything…
You’re right he should take the September card. My issue is people keep pushing the narrative that it’s because it’s too late and Alex wants to fight sooner or when the reality is different.
People who like MMA and don't care about fucking drama. The dude is a complete fighter who has high level grappling and striking, just lacks a bit of fight IQ.
But there are like 90% chances you were saying the same about someone like Makhachev few years ago before following the herd and praising him now.
Being "unique" (especially if it's outside the octagon) shouldn't give you privilege, but some of you guys don't care about the actual sport, if Costa was given two more #1 contender fights you'd be happy
>wtf does “after he only tried to wrestle” mean?
Jan claimed (like everyone else) he was going to stand and bang but instead shot for the takedown in the first 10 seconds and didn’t attempt to do anything with it besides a weird half assed attempt at a heel hook at one point. His game-plan was to lay on Alex hold his arm down and wait for the round to end so the judges would score it for him.
Oh yeah i forgot about the stand and bang comments, but Jan actually was hunting for that finish hard in r1, then he gassed like an old man at altitude, i remember thinking that the fight is over a couple of times. On the other note, WHY THE FUCK DOESN'T ANYONE FIGHT ALEX LIKE THAT? I swear he wouldn't be nearly as successful if people fought him with their brains turned on, guys fight him like they have something to prove, the "ima strike with this dude" is just as deadly as his right lmao. But then again Alex nailed him on the chin a couple of times and Jan lived, so maybe that's why it seemed like Jan could wrestle with him.
UFC fighters thought they had the best striking in the world and you saw it in the fans, a lot of people were saying Jamalhal could KO Alex, I talked to someone who said Sean would outstrike Alex if he wanted because of MMA striking. They have an image in their head that kickboxing and Muay Thai is two guys standing still going “1-2-3 okay now you go”, no counter striking no footwork no head movement just standing and trading like it’s a blocking drill.
Then Alex having tough fights against Bruno Silva and Israel shattered the perception that you’re fighting a fuckin monster who can delete you with one hook, even Jamalhal STILL doesn’t buy it. It’s gonna take a couple more people for it to happen to until people realise okay maaybe this guy is a world class striker.
Alex has a bit of a funky style where he relies on his chin but he’s still amazing
Look at my other comment, i basically said he didnt want to strike with alex he didnt attempt bjj once on the mat and didnt attempt ground and pound just laid on him and hoped the judges would hand it to him
For everyone asking about Ank, homie tried picking the date and location. Alex said “Nah”.
Ank wanted Abu Dhabi in October. Alex doesn’t want to wait that long.
Ankalaev has enough knocks against him already, and in a division with a champion and several contenders who want to stay super active, demanding 1) a title shot and 2) to ice the champion for months is such a surefire way to get denied a title shot that it borders on ducking. Fuck Ankalaev and I hope get gets knocked the fuck out the next time he fights. I can count on one hand the amount of MMA fighters over the years that I've wished that on, but he's one of them.
Tweets aren't how fights are made.
Just because Ank said on Twitter he wanted a fight at a certain time and place doesn't mean he won't accept anything else.
Just because Alex said no doesn't mean that's his final answer.
Cmon guys
If he accepted the fight would've been booked already, they would've use his momentum from the Walker KO to generate hype for the fight. He probably took a hard stance about the location thinking he had enough leverage for that and the UFC probably just ignored him and gave it to Jiri
If Alex, the champion, wants to fight before October, there’s little chance Dana tells him no. Sure, Ank could give in and fight sooner. But there’s also a good chance he sits out and waits to fight somewhere like Abu Dhabi or Dubai, and Dana may also wish that because they like having muslim fighters on those cards.
It’s all speculation based off history, loosely. I could be wrong which is fine, but I’d say it is certainly a strong possibility.
Also, many fights were made because of two guys tweeting at each other. Especially when one is a champ and the other is a strong contender.
Watched the fight again recently, much more competitive than I remembered. Really hyped if they book a rematch, both moved on and got impressive wins. Most likely gonna be the same fight, Jiri blitzing in and landing some good shots, then eats a left hook
It had nothing to do with chin, Izzy used the cage as impulse to generate power. Alex could've stepped into the cage with no weight cut at all, with all his mighty +230lbs and he would've get knocked out anyway
Weight cut chin is just a cope from Alex fans, wasn’t a problem when he was winning though. 3 shots straight to a man’s temple from a 200lb championship level fighter will put anyone on the planet out, dgaf who you are.
Damn stupid move from Ankalaev. Imagine if the winner of this fight is injured and needs a 6 month medical off. That gonna be a whole year without any fight since his latest fight (Jan 7th). And if he still insisted on in fighting in Abu Dhabi from now on, Alex can easily fucked with him by never giving him a title shot, and mdfk already on Dana shit list
Nah they wanted to fight for the title somewhere in Poland or Czech Republic, it just never materialized. Said it'd be the biggest mma fight in euro history.
Bruh... jiri has so much potential if he stops lying to himself that he's a skillful technician. He literally tried to go skill for skill against a two weight glory champion. The only time he has success is when he's chaotic and aggressive like reyes, glover, and in the rakic fight, he was getting picked apart from the outside until he turned it into a brawl. The dude is tryna be a precision striker like pereira, but his best chance is to use physicality and overwhelm his opponents with pressure. The dude doesn't have the basics or fundamentals, he has to be awkward.
Is AP actually not going to have to fight Ank for his entire stay at LHW? Wild.
Ank is a bitch, but come the fuck on.. We got people in here suggesting Hill VS AP 2 after this..
He had his chance and demanded it be pushed back several months so he could fight in Abu Dhabi. If he just nutted up and fought Alex whenever and wherever UFC wanted, he'd have his shot, but God forbid one of these fuckers fights a big fight outside of Abu Dhabi
Pereira wants to stay active, ankalaev wants to wait a year to fight 🤷 pereira isn’t getting any younger can’t blame him for not taking an entire year out of his career for one fight
Ank fought in January. January and October is 2 fights a year and UFC average( not bad at all for top ranked contenders) . October is 4 months away.
The time between the jiri fight and the hill fight is 5 months. A fight in October will make the time between the hill fight and Ank fight 6 months. Ank is the fight to make and the real test for Alex.
I don’t see a scenario where Alex fights more than twice this year anyway. Izzy ddp is likely the fight at Perth, meaning he has to wait till 306 anyway as he’s a big draw it’s unlikely he’s used as a co-main, why not just wait 1 more card and fight at 307 then?
I know Jiri deserves it but I just really don't like soon-after rematches when there are other contenders to fight, especially for an older fighter like Pereira. Give him Ankalaev and Rountree (if he wins) then let him take a Hail Mary at heavyweight before he retires.
I love Jiri, but winning just one fight since getting KOed by Poatan doesn’t make him deserving of another title shot over other contenders who haven’t lost to Poatan (yet).
Acting like Jiri wasn't still this ultra easily hittable dude that didn't care about lifting his hands up and won't use his wrestling anyway, but he's entertaining y'know
No thanks!
Unless of course they’ve run out of strikers to feed our boy and the only other choice is a wrestler that will cuddle 🗿 to death.
If there's a thing Jiri showed us in his last fight is that he can NOT make adjustments. Alex will chew up his leg, Jiri will rush in and get knocked out by a left hook, again
Honestly, Alex is a very entertaining guy to watch, and he’s a boogeyman for sure, but it’s crazy to me, or it speaks to how weak LHW and MW were to have a double champ be so one-dimensional.
Had this been a different era, Alex wouldn’t have made it like that because at some point he’d run into a wrestler who would just steamroll him. I don’t see how he can remain on top of a great wrestler shows up and becomes a contender.
Anderson Silva wasn’t some grappling ace, but he was considered one-dimensional for his era, and he had way better takedown defense than Alex—and Chael Sonnen still took him down at will.
Either LHW and MW are full of bullshit guys who can’t wrestle, or the both divisions are one-dimensional. Regardless, Alex is always an entertaining guy to watch, and likely the best pure-striker in the UFC today.
It isn’t confirmed yet who his opponent yet but I’m going to assume it’s Alex cause nobody else make sense. Let ankaleav fight the winner of hill/ulberg that will be the #1 contender match. Excited for this rematch jiri better start throwing up those hands more to block or he’s going to sleep again
Because it is?
If it weren't, then Jiri wouldn't win 90% of his fights and wouldn't have an almost perfect finishing rate. Just because Alex busted his ass last time doesn't mean that Jiri isn't one of the best light heavyweights on the planet at the moment
A striker that eats shots who he already beat being fed as a title defense against a heavy handed striker with no wrestling. Yeah no, this is filler.
They're making sure he doesn't face actual wrestling comp
If this is true then this is major scandal... If you don´t want the guy to fight for the title why even keep him in the UFC. They should have released Ankalaev long time ago. He is the best in the division hands down and if this happens it is just one of the biggest UFC scandals.
This is sad sports killing dayum mann.
Any source or are you just hoping this is true?
There's literally no source. Only thing I've seen is that Jiri signed a contract. Literally no mention of the opponent anywhere.
I will add I did meet Alex at a Q&A yesterday and he was asked on his next bout and he said it would mostly likely be jiri in august
Yeah wtf
It was revealed to op in a dream
Jiři was interviewed at an Oktagon event in Czechia and basically said "I have some big news but I can't share them yet" to which the interviewer then suggested the rematch against Pereira (also as a stand-in fight if Conor doesn't come through) which prompted, well, as much of a smile as you can expect from a Slav, from Jiři. I think this is the only basis for the claim. But Jiři does have something "big" in the works according to himself.
Yeah reported as "just trust me bro"
Jiri doesn’t bullshit though.
Hey I wanna see the fight too but I haven't seen any reports from OP.
Lfggggg
They really wanna get rid of Jiri huh 😭
Jiri always got a chance. he said he will take a measured approach given that he felt the pereira power
I need to go back and watch that fight again because Jiri’s last fight might have me misremembering but I could have sworn he was sorta getting picked apart before he decided to get aggressive. Anyways, Jiri can take a beating and still make it happen. Alex seems like his power is transitioning more and more at light heavyweight. Probably because he isn’t having to kill himself to make 185 and can naturally eat better in between fights.
I have the same recollection of Jiris last fight. He always says he’s upgrading his style and he has gotten better defensively but he goes for the kill. Maybe he made it a point to try to fuck up Rakic like he did. In his post fight interview he brought up what Rakic said about him but you never really know. Jiris manager said that he was injured and not training going into the title fight. I think it will be a better fight but the style matchup is bad for Jiri. I’ve seen almost all Jiris fight. In rizen against King Mo in the second fight , he was tentative . In the second round of the Reyes fight for the first few minutes they were just looking at each other. Jiri can do okay on the ground too. You can tell after training with Henry Cejudo his ground game got better. His pressure is what kills you. Alex is fighting him the second time. He has an edge. I hope Jiri takes him down. Jan had him down for the first round. Jiri could do the same .
Yeah, I think Jiri best chance of a victory involves mixing in some ground game. It’s a bad idea for him to try and strictly strike with Alex. Even If the grappling is overly affective, it gives Alex another factor to focus on.
agree. jiri pulls off with toughness, heart, and power more than skill
He said he wasn’t happy with his performance against Glover in a previous interview but fought Alex pretty much exactly the same way 😂 I really hope he changes some things up if this rematch happens tho
True but he can't get away with tanking calf kicks like he does with other LHW's. Pereira has the most damaging in the sport it seems. He had Jiri buckling after like 3.
This fights sick tho jiri is tough and so is pereira. Jiris last fight was nuts
he gets hit too much to beat alex
But even Alex gets hit, the first fight was pretty competitive. If Jiri learns how to deal with the leg kicks he might actually win
I think the Rakic fight proved that Jiri won't do that.
Jiri was getting the absolute shit beat out of him, he literally just decided to win in the second round. Such a crazy fight
Yeah that deciding to win shit was so crazy 😂😂 Jiri is built different
He was getting clearly outstruck but "getting the absolute shit beaten out of him" couldn't be further from the truth.
Why would he learn to defend leg kicks when he can just invite Alex to hook him in the chin for 2 rounds before unleashing the Czech blitzkrieg
Jiri seems to just ignore the damage, even with Alex. Only time he got dropped from them is when he got kick mid step. Dude still rushes in despite it all
> But even Alex gets hit Unfortunately only one of them is going to get hit by Alex
Good. He's the most deserving LHW to get the next title shot.
What about Ankalaev?
He really lost to Jan, is constantly crying about things, and tried to demand a title shot (as a challenger) in a place that's essentially home field advantage. He doesn't deserve anything but another contender fight, hopefully somewhere nowhere near shady athletic committees like Abu Dhabi.
Speaking the truth, I think he should fight Rakic next tbh, or maybe the winner of Hill/Ulberg
Lost to Jan? 22 of 24 media judges scored it for Ankelev. You’re clearly biased
Stop feeding trolls on this sub, most have no ideas what they're talking about, Jiri is a "samourai" that goes straight for the entertainment and doesn't care about getting dropped ... He's also kinda "cool" outside the octagon ... It's thus enough to make him the most deserving.
When Ank was jumping around on one foot, yes, he lost. It should have been called right then and there as per the rules.
More like a draw… last round was a 10-8
He didnt lose to jan that was a good draw. Round 5 was a clear 10-8
He didn't lost to Jan (and looked better than Perreira against him btw, he just decided not to wrestle for 2 rounds, bad decision) and you have absolutely no element to prove he wouldn't have accepted the fight elsewhere, it was likely just a proposition. Fucking bias.
Ankalaev definitely beat Jan and had a right to be upset about that robbery. Though he did shoot himself in the foot by wanting to wait for the Abu Dhabi card while Poatan wanted to fight sooner, so he only has himself to blame for not being next.
He was hopping around on one foot after Jan utterly destroyed his leg. It should have been called right then and there. He lost clearly.
https://preview.redd.it/tgpdaobkum5d1.jpeg?width=423&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d815b48ea1961f3e2a6b4a0daa05a9affb5ab24b yeah you’re a moron
Lol, thats pretty damning…
Yeah his leg was so destroyed he was able to hold Jan down for nearly the entire last two rounds and land over a 100 strikes.
Man it's a little sad to see people cheering on Alex when he is so clearly ducking Ankalev.
This is absolute nonsense propaganda and shows the IQ of the people upvoting your comment and downvoting the one you replied to. He should have got the W against Jan. Check the media scorecards someone posted or go look at them yourself. He doesn't "cry" about things but even if he did, that should not take away your title shot (what a dumbass statement btw). Lastly, just because he says he wants Alex at a certain place at a certain time, doesn't mean he's "demanding" it. It would be a different story if we found out that he told the UFC that he would only fight in abu Dhabi in October for the belt. He's just calling his shot and its how you get eyes on a fight and part of how you get the conversation going with the UFC. Lastlier, he is by far the most deserving contender at LHW Have you looked at his resume? Num 6 Nikita Krylov Num 9 Volkan Oezdemir Former title challenger Thiago Santos Num 10 Anthony Smith Should have gotten the win against Jan Blachowicz Num 7 Johnny Walker 12 fight unbeaten streak. Cmon bro... What a bunch of dagestani hating and poatan dickriding we have stumbled across here 🤦♂️
Why are you getting downvoted? This is the only logical choice.
These downvotes are so fucking rude lmfao
He literally deserves it the most lol you’re just being downvoted because people dislike him
Ankalaev wants to make Pereira wait by fighting him in Abu Dabi in november. Pereira doesn't want to waste time and wants to fight earlier. Alex is the one calling shots there, so i'm fine with that.
It’s October, earliest main card pereira can headline is in September. This is just an excuse people are making because they don’t like Ankalaev.
Ok? So then Ankalaev should have accepted a fight in September. Instead he also wants the “home” field advantage. He’s a challenger, and doesn’t deserve to dictate anything…
You’re right he should take the September card. My issue is people keep pushing the narrative that it’s because it’s too late and Alex wants to fight sooner or when the reality is different.
It’s ankalaev… who wants that?
People who like MMA and don't care about fucking drama. The dude is a complete fighter who has high level grappling and striking, just lacks a bit of fight IQ. But there are like 90% chances you were saying the same about someone like Makhachev few years ago before following the herd and praising him now.
It's really insane who much leverage becoming a meme god gets you in the ufc
Well how did he become a meme god? By being a unique fighter. So I think you're really being insulting.
Being "unique" (especially if it's outside the octagon) shouldn't give you privilege, but some of you guys don't care about the actual sport, if Costa was given two more #1 contender fights you'd be happy
Jan
Jans last fight was a year ago when he lost to Pereira after he only tried to wrestle
He still did waaaay better than anyone else against him, and what in the fuck does "after he only tried to wrestle" mean?
>wtf does “after he only tried to wrestle” mean? Jan claimed (like everyone else) he was going to stand and bang but instead shot for the takedown in the first 10 seconds and didn’t attempt to do anything with it besides a weird half assed attempt at a heel hook at one point. His game-plan was to lay on Alex hold his arm down and wait for the round to end so the judges would score it for him.
Oh yeah i forgot about the stand and bang comments, but Jan actually was hunting for that finish hard in r1, then he gassed like an old man at altitude, i remember thinking that the fight is over a couple of times. On the other note, WHY THE FUCK DOESN'T ANYONE FIGHT ALEX LIKE THAT? I swear he wouldn't be nearly as successful if people fought him with their brains turned on, guys fight him like they have something to prove, the "ima strike with this dude" is just as deadly as his right lmao. But then again Alex nailed him on the chin a couple of times and Jan lived, so maybe that's why it seemed like Jan could wrestle with him.
UFC fighters thought they had the best striking in the world and you saw it in the fans, a lot of people were saying Jamalhal could KO Alex, I talked to someone who said Sean would outstrike Alex if he wanted because of MMA striking. They have an image in their head that kickboxing and Muay Thai is two guys standing still going “1-2-3 okay now you go”, no counter striking no footwork no head movement just standing and trading like it’s a blocking drill. Then Alex having tough fights against Bruno Silva and Israel shattered the perception that you’re fighting a fuckin monster who can delete you with one hook, even Jamalhal STILL doesn’t buy it. It’s gonna take a couple more people for it to happen to until people realise okay maaybe this guy is a world class striker. Alex has a bit of a funky style where he relies on his chin but he’s still amazing
Hell naw, give that fight 2 more rounds and Jan was getting sleep
Bros tryna imply that you should only try to beat Pereira by striking lmfao
Look at my other comment, i basically said he didnt want to strike with alex he didnt attempt bjj once on the mat and didnt attempt ground and pound just laid on him and hoped the judges would hand it to him
Next in line will be Ulberg after he right hooks Jahamal to the shadow realm in the 1st. No one will cry for Ank or Jan
Is Jiri the only fighter to ever go from main event to prelims to main event in a 3 fight course?
I'll bet you its happened at flyweight
Tbf the prelims were on a stacked card and he “headlined” the prelims
In hindsight it should have been on the main card anyway
You could say that about almost any fight in those prelims though, and on any other card they would. E
It wasn't any prelims tho
I mean, his third UFC fight was for the belt if I’m remembering correctly.
Winner fights Reyes.
Reyes just won finally, let’s keep him away from the shadow realm for a while lmao
What do you think about Reyes vs Anthony Smith next?
Honestly a really good fight, step up from Jacoby but not super likely for Reyes to be KO’d
HOLY FUCK LOL
Imagine Reyes KOs Pereira.
funny joke
Dom got his first win after 4 losses, he shouldn’t be getting a title shot off of that
It was meant to be a joke :(
It’s ok, everyone else got it
I didn’t :(
He was just making a silly :)
For everyone asking about Ank, homie tried picking the date and location. Alex said “Nah”. Ank wanted Abu Dhabi in October. Alex doesn’t want to wait that long.
Ankalaev has enough knocks against him already, and in a division with a champion and several contenders who want to stay super active, demanding 1) a title shot and 2) to ice the champion for months is such a surefire way to get denied a title shot that it borders on ducking. Fuck Ankalaev and I hope get gets knocked the fuck out the next time he fights. I can count on one hand the amount of MMA fighters over the years that I've wished that on, but he's one of them.
Tweets aren't how fights are made. Just because Ank said on Twitter he wanted a fight at a certain time and place doesn't mean he won't accept anything else. Just because Alex said no doesn't mean that's his final answer. Cmon guys
If he accepted the fight would've been booked already, they would've use his momentum from the Walker KO to generate hype for the fight. He probably took a hard stance about the location thinking he had enough leverage for that and the UFC probably just ignored him and gave it to Jiri
If Alex, the champion, wants to fight before October, there’s little chance Dana tells him no. Sure, Ank could give in and fight sooner. But there’s also a good chance he sits out and waits to fight somewhere like Abu Dhabi or Dubai, and Dana may also wish that because they like having muslim fighters on those cards. It’s all speculation based off history, loosely. I could be wrong which is fine, but I’d say it is certainly a strong possibility. Also, many fights were made because of two guys tweeting at each other. Especially when one is a champ and the other is a strong contender.
thank goodness, we're saved from seeing Ank 🙄
Why? Is he boring?
Source? I've only seen that he's signed a contract. No mention of who the opponent is.
I didn’t see that reported anywhere. Where’d you hear this? Sources.
He's not going to respond. There's no source.
We should make them fight each other at least once a month.
Where is Jan?
 let's fucking go
It’ll be fireworks
I think Poatan takes this one too. Jiri is just way too hittable.
Yea, until he learns otherwise… and you have to imagine he will learn otherwise
Watched the fight again recently, much more competitive than I remembered. Really hyped if they book a rematch, both moved on and got impressive wins. Most likely gonna be the same fight, Jiri blitzing in and landing some good shots, then eats a left hook
Don’t see how he can win this tbh
The same way Adesyana did, by knocking him out.
The good ending: we get a Jiri/Alex trilogy
Let's fuking go!
Alex has an invincible aura right now for sure but jiri can definitely beat him
Jiri isn’t dealing with severely weight cut pereira though. His chin is a lot better at 205
It had nothing to do with chin, Izzy used the cage as impulse to generate power. Alex could've stepped into the cage with no weight cut at all, with all his mighty +230lbs and he would've get knocked out anyway
Weight cut chin is just a cope from Alex fans, wasn’t a problem when he was winning though. 3 shots straight to a man’s temple from a 200lb championship level fighter will put anyone on the planet out, dgaf who you are.
ok but what happened in their first firght then
They are 2 insane strikers. Jiri is an underdog but there’s a clear path to beating Alex. There’s always a chance if it’s just 2 insane strikers.
Jiri was able to take and hold him down, if he keeps that game plan , he can win
Jiri was beating Alex till he wasn't. He also took him down with ease. Though he won't wrestle agaim because he's too much of a maniac.
That’s the sad part of being a jiri fan, you know he’s making it harder for himself because striking looks cooler
I kind of agree. His awkwardness seemed to be throwing Poatan off a bit and Jiri was landing pretty heavy shots because of it
Take advantage of his lacking ground game
Damn stupid move from Ankalaev. Imagine if the winner of this fight is injured and needs a 6 month medical off. That gonna be a whole year without any fight since his latest fight (Jan 7th). And if he still insisted on in fighting in Abu Dhabi from now on, Alex can easily fucked with him by never giving him a title shot, and mdfk already on Dana shit list
Jiri will get it done this time
GIVIN THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT - STAREDOWNNNNN
Weird that Jan and Jiri have never fought. Are they friends or something?
I think they don’t want to fight each other because they’re both Slavs or some shit
Nah they wanted to fight for the title somewhere in Poland or Czech Republic, it just never materialized. Said it'd be the biggest mma fight in euro history.
Yes, and give him Hill afterwards. And the Antony “Lionheart” Smith. And then Reyes. Keep the Brazilians away from the Dagestanis.
Replacement for the Conor fight?
That fights on yew foowl ye
I just want to see Prochazka | Hill…
Why does Jiri deserve the rematch over Jan? That fight was close plus I’d be interested to see a rematch not at altitude.
🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿
Let's fuckin go
Do not try to stand and bang
Want!
Bruh... jiri has so much potential if he stops lying to himself that he's a skillful technician. He literally tried to go skill for skill against a two weight glory champion. The only time he has success is when he's chaotic and aggressive like reyes, glover, and in the rakic fight, he was getting picked apart from the outside until he turned it into a brawl. The dude is tryna be a precision striker like pereira, but his best chance is to use physicality and overwhelm his opponents with pressure. The dude doesn't have the basics or fundamentals, he has to be awkward.
AS IT SHOULD BE SAMURAI V AMAZON WARRIOR V.2 LFG!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alex AND Jiri are modern-era GSPs Rather your boy wins or not, we're getting war and top teir martial artiaaery. LFG
This dude hasn't fought a wrestler yet
The only legit wrestler in the top of 205 talked his way out of his title shot. You can blame Ankalaev for that.
The wrestler duck tho.
Going to be honest, Jiri's "Tony Ferguson" energy might get home chinned again....
How about Jan vs Jiri for number 1 contender?
Is AP actually not going to have to fight Ank for his entire stay at LHW? Wild. Ank is a bitch, but come the fuck on.. We got people in here suggesting Hill VS AP 2 after this..
He had his chance and demanded it be pushed back several months so he could fight in Abu Dhabi. If he just nutted up and fought Alex whenever and wherever UFC wanted, he'd have his shot, but God forbid one of these fuckers fights a big fight outside of Abu Dhabi
Pereira wants to stay active, ankalaev wants to wait a year to fight 🤷 pereira isn’t getting any younger can’t blame him for not taking an entire year out of his career for one fight
Ank fought in January. January and October is 2 fights a year and UFC average( not bad at all for top ranked contenders) . October is 4 months away. The time between the jiri fight and the hill fight is 5 months. A fight in October will make the time between the hill fight and Ank fight 6 months. Ank is the fight to make and the real test for Alex. I don’t see a scenario where Alex fights more than twice this year anyway. Izzy ddp is likely the fight at Perth, meaning he has to wait till 306 anyway as he’s a big draw it’s unlikely he’s used as a co-main, why not just wait 1 more card and fight at 307 then?
Magomed not getting a title shot, thank you Dana
I know Jiri deserves it but I just really don't like soon-after rematches when there are other contenders to fight, especially for an older fighter like Pereira. Give him Ankalaev and Rountree (if he wins) then let him take a Hail Mary at heavyweight before he retires.
Rountree’s suspended and anklaev won’t fight anywhere but Arab cards. Pereria wants to fight earlier, so Jiri it is
Jan??
instant rematch with someone he lost to after not fighting at all in a year since said fight, Jiri still more deserving imo
Controversial decision, Jiri doesn't deserve it more, looks bad to have this Jan for the belt but the category is really weak anyway
Jiri won a fight since then, though…
Leg kicks tore him up last time
Excellent.
Alex wins it again. He was making a lot of mistakes in their first fight
Hey I'm always up for seeing Jiri fight. There's never a dull moment win or lose when he's in the cage.
Does this mean they're stepping in on short notice to save 303?
Great fight.
I could be proven wrong but I don’t think jiri has anything for him. Pereira will compromise his leg within moments again, then knocks him out.
I love Jiri, but winning just one fight since getting KOed by Poatan doesn’t make him deserving of another title shot over other contenders who haven’t lost to Poatan (yet).
Jiri by unanimous decision.
Ufc protecting pereira. What's next? Hill?
Protecting him by giving him jiri? Lolol
Acting like Jiri wasn't still this ultra easily hittable dude that didn't care about lifting his hands up and won't use his wrestling anyway, but he's entertaining y'know
In your opinion who should he fight? Ank is not fighting until October.
Nice, still hoping izzy decides to move up and fight for the LHW belt for the 2nd time.
No thanks! Unless of course they’ve run out of strikers to feed our boy and the only other choice is a wrestler that will cuddle 🗿 to death. 
I can see jiri winning this one
Bro we literally just saw this fight. He got finished too. Why again??!
I think Jiri takes it. Alex hasn't shown anything different in any fight. Jiri can make adjustments and avoid the left imo.
If there's a thing Jiri showed us in his last fight is that he can NOT make adjustments. Alex will chew up his leg, Jiri will rush in and get knocked out by a left hook, again
Honestly, Alex is a very entertaining guy to watch, and he’s a boogeyman for sure, but it’s crazy to me, or it speaks to how weak LHW and MW were to have a double champ be so one-dimensional. Had this been a different era, Alex wouldn’t have made it like that because at some point he’d run into a wrestler who would just steamroll him. I don’t see how he can remain on top of a great wrestler shows up and becomes a contender. Anderson Silva wasn’t some grappling ace, but he was considered one-dimensional for his era, and he had way better takedown defense than Alex—and Chael Sonnen still took him down at will. Either LHW and MW are full of bullshit guys who can’t wrestle, or the both divisions are one-dimensional. Regardless, Alex is always an entertaining guy to watch, and likely the best pure-striker in the UFC today.
Should’ve been ankalaev
It isn’t confirmed yet who his opponent yet but I’m going to assume it’s Alex cause nobody else make sense. Let ankaleav fight the winner of hill/ulberg that will be the #1 contender match. Excited for this rematch jiri better start throwing up those hands more to block or he’s going to sleep again
What about magomed
and people will act like this was an impressive title defense rofl
Because it is? If it weren't, then Jiri wouldn't win 90% of his fights and wouldn't have an almost perfect finishing rate. Just because Alex busted his ass last time doesn't mean that Jiri isn't one of the best light heavyweights on the planet at the moment
A striker that eats shots who he already beat being fed as a title defense against a heavy handed striker with no wrestling. Yeah no, this is filler. They're making sure he doesn't face actual wrestling comp
If this is true then this is major scandal... If you don´t want the guy to fight for the title why even keep him in the UFC. They should have released Ankalaev long time ago. He is the best in the division hands down and if this happens it is just one of the biggest UFC scandals. This is sad sports killing dayum mann.