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I was devastated: Magomed Ankalaev reflects on first UFC loss in years

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'I was devastated': Magomed Ankalaev reflects on first UFC loss in years
Former
Ultimate Fighting Championship champion Magomed
Ankalaev has opened up about dealing with his last defeat.

The Russian is coming off his light heavyweight title loss in a
rematch against Alex
Pereira at
UFC 320 last year, and while the result was difficult to
accept, he's now only looking ahead.

Ankalaev discusses recovering from the Alex Pereira defeat
before facing Bogdan Guskov

While Ankalaev had dominantly dethroned Pereira in their first
outing, “Poatan” avenged the loss by knocking out the Dagestani
205-pounder in just 80 seconds in their rematch. The loss was also
Ankalaev's first since 2018, when he was submitted in his Octagon
debut.

Ankalaev admits that it hasn't been easy recovering from his last
loss, which was frustrating. However, the former champ has cleared
his head ahead of his return at
UFC Abu Dhabi. With fresh motivation to return to the win
column, Ankalaev vows that things will be different in his upcoming
fight.

“It's been a long time; I have wanted to come back,†Ankalaev told
Red Corner MMA. “I had some issues, injuries. It's been hard to
return. Everyone knows that the last fight was a frustrating loss.
It's fair to say I was devastated. But I'm back. Fresh thoughts,
cool head, if you will. Now everything is going to be completely
different.â€

Ankalaev (20-2) was originally scheduled to face Khalil
Rountree on July 25 at UFC Abu Dhabi. However, Rountree pulled
out due to an injury and has been replaced by Bogdan
Guskov on two weeks' notice.

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MMA

Reinier de Ridder rips training at former gym after move to ATT

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Reinier de Ridder rips training at former gym after move to ATT
Reinier
de Ridder has changed camps ahead of his permanent move up to
light heavyweight in the
Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The Dutchman is scheduled to take on Roman
Dolidze at 205 pounds next, on Aug. 22 at Golden 1 Center in
Sacramento, California. He recently revealed that he has parted
ways with
Kill Cliff FC and joined another Florida gym,
American Top Team, ahead of his UFC light heavyweight
debut.

Reinier de Ridder explains why he left Kill Cliff FC for
American Top Team

The former One
Championship two-division titleholder explains that while he
really enjoyed the atmosphere at Kill Cliff FC, the level of
training has allegedly not been up to mark in the last couple of
months. One of de Ridder's favorite coaches, Aung La N
Sang, recently opened his own gym, which limited his time at
Kill Cliff FC.

He also claims that head coach Henri Hooft has not been around much
over the last couple of months due to personal reasons and that
many top fighters allegedly left Kill Cliff FC as the level of
training declined.

“I did switch up my camp,†de Ridder told Full Mount MMA. “So, I've
been at ATT this camp, which is a big change. I've been able to
work with a lot of high-level guys, which is cool – coaches and
training partners… Some stuff was just not good at Kill Cliff the
last six months. Henri had some personal stuff. He had been out of
the gym for a couple of months. And Aung La, my guy I like to work
with a lot, he opened his own gym. So, he hadn't been at Kill Cliff
much. And a lot of big guys left because just the content of the
classes was not that good. So, it was time to make a change,
unfortunately. Cause I really liked them, really liked the
atmosphere, liked everything there.â€

After getting off to a sensational start in the UFC, going 4-0 with
wins over Bo Nickal and
Robert
Whittaker, de Ridder (21-4) suffered consecutive losses to
Brendan
Allen and Caio
Borralho, prompting the move up to light heavyweight. He's
looking to return to winning ways at
UFC Sacramento.

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Merab Dvalishvili spars with Mark Zuckerberg in the middle of a lake

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Merab Dvalishvili spars with Mark Zuckerberg in the middle of a lake
Mark Zuckerberg is a die-hard mixed martial arts fan.

Zuckerberg recently sparred with Merab
Dvalishvili on a floating platform in the middle of a lake. The
Meta CEO has been training for a few years now, evidenced by his
light sparring session with the former
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight king, wherein he
landed some jabs, body kicks and even a takedown.

Merab Dvalishvili puts Mark Zuckerberg’s MMA training to the
test on a floating platform

Zuckerberg has developed strong friendships with several MMA
fighters, training with the likes of Alex
Pereira, Alexander
Volkanovski and Israel
Adesanya, in addition to Dvalishvili. During their recent
mid-lake sparring session, Zuckerberg even kicked Dvalishvili off
the barge, before the Georgian returned the favor by throwing the
American billionaire into the lake.

Zuckerberg has become increasingly involved with MMA, especially
the UFC, over the past few years. He initially started training jiu
jitsu during the pandemic and even won a gold and a silver at BJJ
Tour Silicon Valley in 2023. Zuckerberg's coach at the time, Dave
Camarillo, who once trained elites like Cain
Velasquez, called the tech mogul one of his best students.

Meanwhile, Dvalishvili looked to defend his UFC bantamweight title
for the fourth time in a year when he put it on the line in a
rematch against Petr Yan last
December. Yan outclassed Dvalishvili on the night, taking their
rivalry to 1-1. While there's no official confirmation from the UFC
as yet, both fighters have indicated that they're gearing up for a
trilogy bout next.

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Jean Silva shares prediction for UFC 330 headliner, Caio Borralho disagrees

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Jean Silva shares prediction for UFC 330 headliner, Caio Borralho disagrees

Fighting Nerds teammates Jean Silva
and Caio
Borralho seemingly disagree on how the upcoming
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight title fight will
play out.

Ian
Garry (17-1) is scheduled to challenge Islam
Makhachev (28-1) for the 170-pound title at UFC
330 on Aug. 15 at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. While
the reigning champion is a massive betting favorite, many fighters
have picked Garry to pull off an upset.

Jean Silva backs Ian Garry against Islam Makhachev as Caio
Borralho signals disagreement

While Silva is backing Garry to come out on top, he admits that
supporting the Irishman is challenging, likely referring to his
teammate Carlos
Prates' loss to “The Future†last year.

“I like Ian Garry, I prefer Ian Garry,†Silva said in a recent
interview. “I have little problem for my team.â€

Meanwhile, Borralho shook his head in disagreement as Silva weighed
in on the fight.

Garry has nine wins in the UFC and has only lost to Shavkat
Rakhmonov, who is currently sidelined as he recovers from
injury. The former
Cage Warriors champion has beaten the likes of Prates, Belal
Muhammad, Geoff Neal
and Neil
Magny.

Meanwhile, Makhachev is on a 16-fight winning streak, tied with
Anderson
Silva for the longest in UFC history. The Dagestani champion
defended the lightweight title four times before moving up to
welterweight and dethroning Jack
Della Maddalena.

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