Magomed Ankalaev Prepares for Title Fight During Ramadan

Magomed Ankalaev knew accepting a title fight against Alex Pereira at UFC 313 on March 8 was going to require some sacrifices because the date falls one week into Ramadan.

The holy month observed by Muslims across the globe requires fasting from dawn until sunset — avoiding all food and water during daylight hours. While none of that affected his preparation getting ready for the fight, Ankalaev admits he’s been forced to break the fast as he gets ready to cut down to 205 pounds on Friday for his fight against Pereira on Saturday.

Ankalaev Adjusts Training for Title Fight During Ramadan

“If we’re talking about the training or the training camp, the preparation, that was done before Ramadan,” Ankalaev said during UFC 313 media day on Wednesday. “So there was no issues with that. The only thing that we had to change is because the week of the fight is Ramadan, what I had to do was I had to break a couple of fasting sessions because I have to drink a lot of water in order for me to be able to make the weight. Other than that, everything is the same.”

Of course, Ankalaev has also heard Pereira chirping about food being delivered to his room, although that didn’t necessarily mean the Russian actually ate anything while he was observing the fasting rules for Ramadan.

Ankalaev Questions Pereira’s Focus Ahead of Title Fight

For his part, Ankalaev can’t help but wonder if Pereira is already showing his hand by making all these comments that really shouldn’t matter much to him just days away from their fight.

“He’s obviously really worried about me and what I’m doing,” Ankalaev said. “He seems to be nervous. He’s following all these things. Like what can I say? I’ll tell you again. I had to break the fast a couple of times because there’s something I need to do in order to make the weight and in order to be prepared. He seems to be way too concerned with that.

“Even if he goes to a fridge right now and he opens the food, he’ll see that there’s food with my name on it, the UFC food that was given to me. If he wants it, he can take it.”

Beyond his jabs about Ankalaev observing the rules of Ramadan, Pereira also recently suggested a wager between them about the fight where the loser would pay $200,000 to a charity of the winner’s choice.

Ankalaev Highlights Islamic Tenets in Response to Pereira’s Comments

For all the ways Pereira seems to know the ins and outs when it comes to observing Ramadan, Pereira can’t help but remind him that another tenet of Islam is that Muslims aren’t allowed to gamble.

That’s why Ankalaev suggested just straight up donating to charity instead rather than attaching some bet as a condition for giving back.

Ankalaev Clarifies Stance on Gambling and Offers to Support Charity

“We were really clear about it online, we said as Muslims we cannot do bets,” Ankalaev said. “That’s not something that we support or that we look to do. However, if he wants to do something, any kind of charity or anything that he wants to do, we have the means to do it and I’d be happy to partake in that.”

Part of Pereira’s decision to go after Ankalaev regarding the way he practices his religion might come back to some concerns the Russian had about the light heavyweight champion potentially losing focus ahead of their showdown on Saturday.

With his title defense just weeks away, Pereira traveled to Australia to corner Sean Strickland in his fight against Dricus du Plessis not to mention conducting other business while he was overseas as well as spending a few nights out rather than extra time in the gym.

Ankalaev Addresses Concerns About Pereira’s Focus Leading Up to Fight

While Pereira may have taken past comments as a slight, Ankalaev promises that’s not the case and if anything, he was actually just showing concern for the UFC light heavyweight champion.

“We weren’t trying to make it personal or anything,” Ankalaev said. “We were just saying maybe we were worried about him that he’s kind of all over the place, all these different UFC events and stuff like that.

“Maybe he should have taken it as us being worried about him spending time doing something rather than being prepared for the fight. Whichever way he took it, it’s up to him. It’s not going to help him or make it worse.”