Reported prose from our newsroom. Knockout puncher
Magomed Ankalaev carries a 12-2 UFC record into the card. He debuted March 17, 2018, and has fought 16 times in the promotion. His first meeting with Johnny Walker on Oct. 21, 2023, was ruled a no contest after Walker could not continue in the opening round. Ankalaev knocked out Walker in their rematch in the second round Jan. 13, 2024. He then won a unanimous decision over Aleksandar Rakic on Oct. 26, 2024, and captured the light heavyweight title with a unanimous decision over Alex Pereira on March 8, 2025. He lost the belt in the rematch, when Pereira knocked him out in the first round Oct. 4, 2025.
The facts, plainly — vitals and record from public UFC statistics; nickname, nationality, hometown and camp from the public fighter register. A field we can't source stays “pending”; it never shows a fake value.
| Nickname | pending |
| Nationality | Russia |
| Hometown | Makhachkala, Dagestan |
| Fighting out of | Gorets Fight Club |
| Height | 6' 3" |
| Reach | 75.0" |
| Stance | Orthodox |
| Age | 34 |
| Date of birth | Jun 02, 1992 |
| Weight | 205 lbs. |
| Pro record | 22-2-1 |
| Finish split | 13 UFC wins — 7 KO/TKO, 6 decision |
Career averages over Magomed Ankalaev’s UFC bouts, straight from public UFC statistics — the same eight numbers on his official record. These are the source’s figures, not our read: what we make of them is the card below.
Six 0–100 scores, each a percentile rank against the Light Heavyweight field — not against the whole roster. Tap any i for what a score measures.
Every fight of Magomed Ankalaev’s that we called in the live 2026 season — whichever corner we called it for. Posted before the fight, graded after it.
FightIQ has called 1 of Magomed Ankalaev’s fights in 2026: 1 correct (1–0 — 100% right). Each call was posted before the fight and graded after it. The confidence % is the number we stood behind at the time — losses shown, toss-ups included.
| Date | Opponent | We called it for | Confidence | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-25 | Bogdan Guskov | Magomed Ankalaev | 72.5% | Correct |
Across our full back-tested history we called 4 of Magomed Ankalaev’s fights, 3 correct. Back-tested, not part of the public timestamped record: these were computed after the fact, so they show the model working on old cards — they were never published ahead of those fights.
Where the strikes go — and where they land on him. Career UFC totals, straight off the tape.
Significant strikes only, as recorded by UFCStats, across the fighter's whole UFC career. Shares are raw counts — nothing here is modelled or smoothed. Accuracy is landed ÷ attempted and comes from the per-round tape, which covers slightly fewer fights than the totals do. “Field” is the average fighter in that weight class, or across every division where a class is too small to average.
The level change — how often it lands, how often it is stopped. Career UFC rates, straight off the tape.
Rate bars run to the population’s 95th percentile (5.96 takedowns / 15m); a fighter above it pins the bar. Percentages are drawn on their own axis.
Career UFC takedown rates exactly as UFCStats publishes them: takedowns landed per 15 minutes, completion rate, submission attempts per 15 minutes, and the share of takedowns tried on them that they stuffed. Attempts per 15 is the one derived figure — landed ÷ completion rate — and it is omitted wherever either input is missing. UFCStats writes 0% where no attempt was recorded at all, so a percentage of exactly zero reads “n/a” here rather than as a measured rate. “Field” is the average fighter in that weight class, or across every division where a class is too small to average.
Pro record: 22-2-1. In the UFC: 13-2-2. Magomed Ankalaev’s last 8 UFC bouts, most recent first — the result in the cage, not our pick.
Straight off the official UFC fight record. Card names are left off on purpose: the only event labels in our data are derived, and we’d rather print nothing than print one that’s wrong.
| Date | Opponent | Method | Rd | Event | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-07-25 | W | Bogdan Guskov | KO/TKO | R5 | UFC Fight Night: Ankalaev vs. Guskov |
| 2025-10-04 | L | Alex Pereira | KO/TKO | R1 | UFC 320: Ankalaev vs. Pereira 2 |
| 2025-03-08 | W | Alex Pereira | Decision (unanimous) | R5 | UFC 313: Pereira vs. Ankalaev |
| 2024-10-26 | W | Aleksandar Rakic | Decision (unanimous) | R3 | UFC 308: Topuria vs. Holloway |
| 2024-01-13 | W | Johnny Walker | KO/TKO | R2 | UFC Fight Night: Ankalaev vs. Walker 2 |
| 2023-10-21 | D | Johnny Walker | Could not continue | R1 | UFC 294: Makhachev vs. Volkanovski 2 |
| 2022-12-10 | D | Jan Blachowicz | Decision (split) | R5 | UFC 282: Blachowicz vs. Ankalaev |
| 2022-07-30 | W | Anthony Smith | KO/TKO | R2 | UFC 277: Pena vs. Nunes 2 |
| 2022-03-12 | W | Thiago Santos | Decision (unanimous) | R5 | UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Ankalaev |
| 2021-10-30 | W | Volkan Oezdemir | Decision (unanimous) | R3 | UFC 267: Blachowicz vs. Teixeira |
| 2021-02-27 | W | Nikita Krylov | Decision (unanimous) | R3 | UFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gane |
| 2020-10-24 | W | Ion Cutelaba | KO/TKO | R1 | UFC 254: Khabib vs. Gaethje |
| 2020-02-29 | W | Ion Cutelaba | KO/TKO | R1 | UFC Fight Night: Benavidez vs. Figueiredo |
| 2019-11-09 | W | Dalcha Lungiambula | KO/TKO | R3 | UFC Fight Night: Zabit vs. Kattar |
| 2019-02-23 | W | Klidson Abreu | Decision (unanimous) | R3 | UFC Fight Night: Blachowicz vs. Santos |
| 2018-09-15 | W | Marcin Prachnio | KO/TKO | R1 | UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik |
| 2018-03-17 | L | Paul Craig | Submission | R3 | UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Volkov |
Every date links to that bout’s own page. Card names come from the official event record; where the UFC ran two cards on one date, or that record has no row for it, the Event column is left empty rather than filled with a guess.
