Three consecutive decision wins over Nikita Krylov, Volkan Oezdemir, and Thiago Santos (his first main event assignment) positioned Ankalaev firmly in the elite at 205 pounds. A TKO win over Anthony Smith at UFC 277 stamped his spot, and when Jiří Procházka vacated the title due to an injury ahead of his scheduled rematch against Glover Teixeira at UFC 282, Ankalaev’s co-main event against Jan Błachowicz was elevated to a 5-round bout for the title. Ankalaev struggled early as the former champion battered his legs, but he adjusted accordingly and won the late rounds with his grappling. Unfortunately for both men, the judges saw no difference between them, ruling the bout a split draw despite some feeling Ankalaev did enough to get the job done. 

UFC 320 Full Fight Card Preview

The dissatisfaction carried over into his next fight against Johnny Walker at UFC 294. Instead of jumping right back into the picture a month before Pereira and Procházka fought for the vacant title at UFC 295, he was once again forced into a saga of sorts when he hit Walker with an illegal knee, resulting in a No Contest. 

Three months would pass until Ankalaev opened 2024 as the headliner against Walker and promptly dusted the Brazilian via 2nd-round knockout to earn his fourth Performance Bonus. Despite the feeling that he was the clear No. 1 contender to Pereira’s throne, Ankalaev simply put another win in the bank, outscoring Aleksandar Rakić to a unanimous decision win at UFC 308 before finally getting his title fight victory over Pereira five months later.