Before I give you my pick, let me give you a little bit of sense about Ankalaev. People want to talk about him like he's the best fighter in the world and he's being kept away from the title and kept away from Alex. Like what the UFC did with Belal. But thats not the case. Anakalev had a title shot and he blew it. He had literally the easiest possible title shot too when he fought old ass Jan Blachowicz where he had his legs chewed up and 8 of his trash takedowns defended. But he couldn't beat Jan, he fought to a draw instead. Then, because he's the best light heavyweight on the planet and the UFC is trying to keep him away from Alex, he fights chinny ass Johnny Walker in what should be a layup – but he fumbles that bag too. Now, he's fighting Rakic who is coming off 2 losses and hasn't won a fight since 2021 and people still want to talk about how Alex is the one being protected. I can't stand Ankalaev and the people pretending that Alex is being protected from him are clueless dorks that just want to argue to argue. Ankalaev is the pick because if he cant win this fight, he should be cut. I also put him in a 3 leg parlay loaded with guys who I want to lose.
Magomed Ankalaev
Magomed Ankalaev is a long kickboxer who uses range well and has devastating kicks. He has power in both of his hands and his feet. He is very vesatile in his attack style, has solid strikign defense but can be low volume . If he gets in trouble striking he does have a wrestling backup plan and averages around 1 takedown per 15 minutes. He has one single loss and that was a literal last second submission to Paul Craig in his UFC debut. He is coming off a title shot earning win over the incredible Johnny Walker.
Aleksandar Rakic
Alexsandar Rakic is a dynamic striker who uses his length and reach to out technique and out decision his opponents. He mixes in kicks really well and has no issues transitioning from leg kicks to head kicks while moving forward. While he does have power he likes to fight on the outside and not necesarily look for a brawl. He is a low volume technical striker who use footwork and distance control. He is coming off the KO loss to Jiri Prochazka at UFC 300.
