Jamahal Hill breaks down Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313

Jamahal Hill predicts a new light heavyweight champion will be crowned at UFC 313.

Alex Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) defends his title against Magomed Ankalaev (20-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) in Saturday’s main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+).

After going back-and-forth with Ankalaev on social media, Hill admits he doesn’t like him but respects him as a fighter. Most pundits have urged Ankalaev to wrestle, but Hill also sees his striking style posing problems for Pereira.

“Magomed’s striking is seriously being slept on here,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “I don’t believe that Pereira sits back and wants to fight out of the pocket. He wants to put the pressure on him and land good, hard shots on the outside. The problem with that is? Magomed is a counter striker. If you look at his last few fights, he counters.

“He waits for you to throw, to overexert yourself, and even off of feints, if you feint and it puts your feet in the wrong spot, he’s countering you. He counters with combinations. They’re fast, and he mixes up his punches. So, he has a variety of strikes available at his disposal. There’s the fact that he’s a southpaw.”

Aggression is key?

While Hill thinks Pereira now has more experience fighting southpaws, it did take him a while to figure out Khalil Rountree before eventually stopping him in Round 4 at UFC 307. He advises “Poatan” to be aggressive.

“For Pereira, the low kicks are there,” Hill said. “He’s got good kicks all around. He would have to produce those in volume. … Alex is going to have produce a lot of volume in this fight to give Magomed problems. He can’t just big-shot him. He’s going to have to upset him with volume, and then those power shots he’s going to land are going to have to come as counters.

“He’s got to draw him out of his hole, draw him out of his shell, and then hit him with a big counter. Those low kicks, that body jab that he throws will be money. I believe he should work those until he’s able to draw Magomed out, then he’ll find some opportunities to land those big shots and that power. Knees to the body will be there, maybe a little bit of clinch work for whenever they do get into maybe some grappling exchanges.”

Hill’s prediction for Pereira vs. Ankalaev

Ultimately, Hill picked Ankalaev to dethrone his former foe.

“I’m going to go with Magomed. I feel he has more tools to win,” Hill said. “Obviously Alex has that one hit wonder. If he catches you, he can put you away, but I believe Magomed also has that. He has the speed, the patience to counter.

“He’s been in this position before. He already let the title slip out of his hands once before, and I believe he’ll be a lot more focused, locked in for this, and ultimately has more ways to win.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 313.