With a few days away from UFC 303, the main event is set after Conor McGregor‘s withdrawal as Alex Pereira stepped in to defend his title in a rematch against Jiri Prochazka. It’s an exciting fight for sure, but Joe Rogan believes that Magomed Ankalaev should have been considered to face ‘Poatan’, something he believes that Dana White may not be a fan of. But guess what? Rogan is once again not scared to let his thoughts know against the UFC CEO’s conviction.

Magomed Ankalaev has lost only once in his entire MMA career, which happened on his UFC debut. At 32 years old, the Russian star has amassed a record of 19 wins, 1 loss, and 1 no-contest. Since his only loss, Ankalaev has been on a roll with 10 consecutive wins and is undefeated since 2019. So does that warrant him a title shot? Well, Joe Rogan has cleared his stance on Ankalaev’s situation.

Joe Rogan doesn’t align with Dana White’s idea

The UFC, just like WWE, wants to have entertainers who can fill up seats in arenas and showcase exciting performances. However, there are still those fighters, who are highly skilled, but tend to fight safely because they need that win to inch closer to a title shot and Dana White is not a big fan of boring fights. But Joe Rogan believes that may not be the right way to see things.

The UFC 303 main event was a short-notice one and Joe Rogan seems to be sure that Magomedov Ankalaev may have received the call from Dana White and Co. to step in. However, short-notice fights don’t do fighters much good and he may have declined it, as per Joe Rogan. The longtime UFC commentator also shed light on the fact that the matchmakers did not like Ankalaev’s bout against former champion Jan Blachowicz, which he refutes.

Top Stories

Tragedy Strikes as 45-Year-Old MMA Veteran Drowns in Amazon River

Ilia Topuria’s UFC Title at Risk After Personal Break Turns Worse With “Extortion” Claim

How Much Did Conor McGregor Spend on Secret Vatican Wedding With Dee Devlin? Lavish Details Emerge

Alex Pereira’s White House Announcement Has Fans Turning On Dana White as Donald Trump’s UFC Plans Hit a Snag

UFC Rankings: Final 2025 Update Brings Major Shake-Ups as New Title Challenger Emerges

“He’s very good. They might have offered him that fight and he might have said no. They might have thought that his fight with Jan Blachowicz was boring. I disagree. I think Jan Blachowicz is a f***ing animal,” Joe Rogan said on the recent ‘JRE Fight Companion‘. The 56-year-old believes that there is more to a fighter than just trying to entertain the crowd because they are professionals and there’s no doubt that they’ll approach their fights pretty seriously.

“If you want to survive against Jan Blachowicz, you got to fight smart. Like, you can’t ask a guy to fight stupid just so everybody can cheer… He looked entertaining in all of his other fights,” Joe Rogan added. Meanwhile, another light heavyweight contender has come out to speak about Alex Pereira’s next fight and made some bold claims about ‘Poatan’.

Is Alex Pereira trying to duck Magomed Ankalaev and Anthony Smith?

Former title contender Anthony Smith had a recent spat with Alex Pereira regarding a $50,000 grappling challenge. So, we can assume that there’s a little bit of animosity between the two. But ahead of the champion’s title defense this weekend, ‘Lionheart’ claimed that ‘Poatan’ wouldn’t have accepted a short-notice bout if he or Magomedov Ankalaev were the ones he had to defend his title against.

“He [Alex Pereira] wouldn’t have probably taken this fight with Magomed or… probably not with me, just because there’s a different skill set. He has already trained for Jiri one time before, so he’s familiar with him,” said Anthony Smith on ‘Believe You Me‘ podcast. It seems like he, just like Joe Rogan, believes that Magomoed Ankalaev is a legit 205-pound threat.

Well, despite all the discourses, the light heavyweight championship fight is going to go down at UFC 303. What do you make of Joe Rogan’s assessment of Dana White snubbing Magomed Ankalaev? Drop your comments below.