“After the fight, everybody told me Ankalaev wasn't training for the last three months. He had a rib injury. When you don't have sparring [sessions] three times a week, it's hard to go to the cage and fight. That's why I think it happened [the TKO loss]. I think they deserve to fight one more time because Ankalaev says, 'I don't want to pull out because I want to save the main event.' He's good [Pereira], but I believe Ankalaev has more skills”

– via a conversation with streamer Adin Ross, making a case for a trilogy fight based on Ankalaev's injury.