What do you mean he "never lost the belt in fight"? The point is LHW is a paper thin division and he's clearly the top contender. Enough with these mental gymnastics trying to justify denying him a shot. Who else deserves it more? Blachowicz?
The justification is that the UFC is a business and Ankalaev is not good for business. He can't get a shot with his mouth and he couldn't get a shot with his performances. Dana told him the next title shot was his if he had an exciting performance... He couldn't do it, his last title shot was a sleeper, this fight wasn't pretty bland too, so why would UFC risk losing its active cash cow for a guy who doesn't sell and is about half as active?
Ankalaev probably beats Pereira but that hurts the business interests of the UFC because Pereira sells.
At this point though the list of who they can match Poatan up with is getting increasingly shorter so Ankalaev is due.