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Jamahal Hill doesn’t think Magomed Ankalaev strengthened his case for a title shot after UFC 308.
Ankalaev (19-1-1 MMA, 10-1-1 UFC) defeated Aleksandar Rakic (14-5 MMA, 6-4 UFC) by unanimous decision at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. Ankalaev’s 13-fight UFC unbeaten streak at 205 pounds is the second-longest in divisional history behind Jon Jones at 18.
Former champion Hill was not impressed with Ankalaev’s performance.
“Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic: Holy sh*t, what a pretty boring fight,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “Pretty boring, fellas. I’m going to be real. I’m always going to be real whenever it comes to talking about fights, and this fight was boring. It showed a lack of weapons.
“I’m not going to say on Rakic’s side. Because Rakic kind of got into his bag a little bit and kind of showed some of the weapons he has. It showed a lack of weapons on Magomed’s end. I’ll get into that later. It seems like we’re probably going to be on a collision course, so I’ll elaborate on that on another time. But Rakic showed a lack of fight IQ.”
Ankalaev called for a title shot against light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira, and UFC CEO Dana White appeared on board. However, Hill doesn’t see it as a guarantee after UFC 308.
“Magomed is wholeheartedly a counter fighter,” Hill said. “That’s what I mean by lack of tools. Lack of tools is being able to come forward and enter, things that actually get you forward and enter into range. That’s not something that he’s good at doing, which against Alex and I, is going to be a problem.
“Assuming he gets the title shot now, giving somebody a title shot off a performance like that – I mean, obviously he’s got the resume and deserves the title shot, but that performance sucked, and I know they (UFC) don’t like him. So, you never know.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.