UFC 313: Whittaker picks winner between Pereira, Ankalaev

UFC veteran Robert Whittaker has advised Magomed Ankalaev to wrestle in order to tackle Alex Pereira at UFC 313.

He fears that if the Russian fighter doesn’t wrestle, he would be in trouble against the defending champion.

Ankalaev, who has a record of 20-1-1 MMA (11-1-1 UFC), will take on light heavyweight champion Pereira, 12-2 MMA (9-1 UFC), this Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Though, Ankalaev is confident that he can stand with “Poatan,” but Whittaker thinks that would be costly.

Ankalaev is confident that he can stand with “Poatan,” but Whittaker thinks that would be a costly mistake.

He urged Ankalaev to wrestle, but he urges him to do it early.

Pereira has won all four of his light heavyweight title bouts by knockout.

“If I’m coaching Ankalaev, I want him dropping to both knees and shooting from across the cage,” Whittaker said at “MMArcade” podcast.

“I want him like, army crawling to Pereira’s ankles. We’re blanketing him for 25 minutes. We need to slow him down, or we need to get him to a position where he’s uncomfortable. “

According to him Pereira is very comfortable in standup fight.

“He will stay there. He’ll be there till the crowds leave. Like he’s so comfortable and confident in that position, in that dynamic of fighting, that it’s silly to fight him there.”

Whittaker is ultimately predicting that Pereira will successfully notch his fourth title defense.

“I’m going to go Pereira,” Whittaker said. “Like I said, if Ankalaev doesn’t drop levels with him in the first 3 minutes, I don’t think he makes it out of the first round.”