Pereira vs. Ankalaev Headlines UFC 313; Gaethje vs. Hooker Co-Main Event

A light-heavyweight title fight between current champion Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev will headline UFC 313 in Las Vegas on March 8th, while Justin Gaethje vs. Dan Hooker will serve as the co-main event.

The 37-year-old Pereira won the title back in 2023 with a TKO victory over Jiri Prochazka and since then has racked up three successful title defenses that’s seen him KO Jamahal Hill, TKO Prochazka for the second time and most recently TKO Khalil Rountree Jr in October of last year.

As for the 32-year-old Ankalaev, he is actually on a 13-fight unbeaten run in the Octagon, and that includes a title shot for the vacant belt against Jan Blachowicz back in December of 2022.

However, the fight ended in a split-draw after an uninspiring performance from both men, which cost them dearly as the promotion then decided to give the next title opportunity to other fighters instead.

Ankalaev’s next fight ended in a no-contest after he landed an illegal knee against Johnny Walker, which further dented his title hopes, but he’s since rebounded with a KO win in his rematch with Walker, followed by a unanimous decision win over Aleksander Rakic in October.

Meanwhile, the co-main event for UFC 313 will see Justin Gaethje back in action for the first time since he lost the symbolic ‘BMF’ title against Max Holloway in April last year, which saw him KO’d in the final second of the fight.

The 36-year-old Gaethje had previously won the BMF title by KO’ing Dustin Poirier, and had earned a majority decision victory over Rafael Fiziev prior to that, so he’s currently ranked No.3 in the lightweight.

Now he’ll take on the No.6 ranked Hooker, who is currently riding a three-fight winning streak since moving back up to 155lbs in 2022.

Along the way the 34-year-old has TKO’d Claudio Puelles followed by split-decision wins over Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot.