Magomed Ankalaev unbeaten in 13-straight fights, defeats Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us today, October 26, 2024, for UFC 308, going down live from the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Headlining the event is a featherweight title bout between current Ilia Topuria (15-0) and no. 2 ranked former champion Max Holloway (26-7).
Co-headlining the event is a five round middleweight affair between no. 3 ranked former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (26-7) and no. 13 ranked Khamzat Chimaev (13-0).
Our feature fight of the evening came in the light-heavyweight division between no. 1 ranked Magomed Ankalaev (20-1-1) and no. 5 ranked Aleksandar Rakic (14-5).
Ankalaev had gone unbeaten in his latest 12 appearances going in, while Rakic, though an incredibly skilled and dangerous contender himself, came in on a two-fight losing skid.
These two had a number of common opponents coming into today’s bout, each having fought former title challengers Volkan Oezdemir, Thiago Santos, and Anthony Smith, as well as former champion Jan Blachowicz; Ankalaev went 3-0-1 in those fights, battling to a draw against Blachowicz in their title bout at UFC 282, while Rakic went 2-2 in those fights, though many believe he should be 3-1 in them with his split decision loss to Oezdemir being highly disputed.
Continue reading to see how our UFC 308 feature fight went down:
Official Result: Magomed Ankalaev def. Aleksandar Rakic via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Ankalaev controlled the center through the opening five minutes, landing a few solid left hands as well as some good body kicks. He checked a number of Rakic’s initial leg kick attempts, though Rakic switched up and began kicking with his lead leg, landing many of them. Rakic also went for a lot of high kicks in the opening round, battering the arms of the Russian.
Ankalaev started investing to the body of Rakic in the second, going downstairs with his left cross on a number of occasions and also bringing it back upstairs, continuing to land it onto the face of Rakic.
Ankalaev continued to walk Rakic down through the opening half of the third and final round, landing his left hand at will which was really the story of this fight. Rakic shot in on a deep single leg about three minutes in, pressing Ankalaev into the fence though he was unsuccessful in his attempt, getting pressed into the fence himself following and eating shots with his back to it as the fight came to a close.
Magomed Ankalaev is now unbeaten in 13-straight fights following victory today at UFC 308; one can only hope the UFC finally books him versus UFC light-heavyweight champion Alex Pereira next.
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