Magomed Ankalaev Says Nobody in the Light Heavyweight Top Five Will Fight Him: What He Is Actually Asking For
Magomed Ankalaev is tired of waiting, and he said so where everyone could read it.
The former UFC light heavyweight champion posted on X on Monday that nobody in the division’s top five will accept a fight with him, then asked whether any heavyweight would face him in January instead.
“Looks like nobody in the top five at light heavyweight wants to fight. Everybody’s got a reason,” Ankalaev wrote.
He Named the Reasons
Ankalaev went through the list. Khalil Rountree Jr., who was his original opponent at UFC Abu Dhabi before withdrawing injured, is not ready. Dominick Reyes just fought and is hurt. Paulo Costa, per Ankalaev, has a number: “Costa wants $10 million.”
HEAVY’s Adam Martin reported Costa is in a contract dispute with the UFC over extra pay for a five-round main event, which the promotion has not agreed to. So that figure may be a position in a negotiation rather than a literal asking price, and Ankalaev repeating it in public does not make it a confirmed demand.
Nobody from the UFC has publicly responded to the post, and no fight has been announced. Rountree, Reyes and Costa have not answered it either, at least not in anything reported so far.
What Is Actually Booked
Nothing. That is the honest answer, and it is worth stating clearly because two outlets have floated two different landing spots.
HEAVY reported that sources say the UFC is targeting Ankalaev to headline UFC Dallas on Jan. 16, 2027 at American Airlines Center against Reyes, which sits oddly next to Ankalaev saying Reyes is hurt. MMA Sucka instead placed a potential return at UFC 336. Those reports do not agree, neither is confirmed, and the promotion has published no card featuring him.
His last appearance was a fifth-round TKO of Bogdan Guskov at UFC Abu Dhabi in July, a fight he took coming back from a rib injury. LowKickMMA called the performance boring. It was also a finish of a ranked opponent in a division where he has been scraping for dance partners ever since.
The Heavyweight Door Is Already Open
Alex Pereira vacated the light heavyweight title before UFC 327, per TNT Sports and Yahoo Sports, and moved up to heavyweight. Ankalaev asking for the same path follows a trail somebody already cut. He would be the second former 205-pound champion inside a year to decide the division cannot feed him.
That should bother the UFC more than it apparently does. A former champion is sitting available, calling out an entire top five by name, and the matchmakers have produced nothing public. Fighters who go loud like this are usually out of quiet options.
The heavyweight pitch has real appeal for the promotion. Ankalaev moving up hands them a fresh name in a division that has leaned on the same short list of contenders, and it clears a light heavyweight logjam by removing the man stuck inside it.
The counterargument is just as plain. Ankalaev built his entire case at 205 pounds against men his own size, and giving weight away to heavyweights is the classic way a very good light heavyweight gets his lights turned off. Pereira’s power translated upward. Not everybody’s does.
Either way, the ask is now public. The next move belongs to the UFC, and silence will be an answer too.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
