It’s a unhappy evening for a lot of UFC followers after the Alex Pereira conflict wagon hit a serious pothole at UFC 313.
A listless Pereira misplaced his mild heavyweight belt to Magomed Ankalaev, who appeared targeted and disciplined however under no circumstances unbeatable within the octagon this Saturday March eighth in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the identical Ankalaev we’ve seen at previous occasions: he wins, however he doesn’t notably excite or impress. We give him credit score for taking the belt off “Poatan,” however Struggle of the Evening it was not.
That’s usually Ankalaev’s modus operandi — he has no downside slowing down the tempo and selecting you aside, mixing in some takedowns to stifle an opponent’s offense and a very good smattering of wall and stall. He’s bought knockout energy, which he used to wobble Pereira within the second spherical. However he’s not abandoning the gameplan to swing for the fences.
That gameplan appeared to contain utilizing the specter of counters and takedowns to maintain Pereira from unleashing his offense. He ended up placing “Poatan” on the backfoot for lots of the battle, and the Brazilian solely had a couple of moments the place he appeared snug letting go and throwing, which allowed Ankalaev to grab sufficient rounds to win.
Pereira was left pissed off on the outcomes of the battle, complaining about Ankalaev’s willingness to place him towards the fence and maintain him there. However that was only one space the place they nullified his offense. The one house Alex had a lot success in was kicking the leg, and that by no means ended up paying dividends within the later rounds.
That is the issue with being champion: everyone seems to be at all times engaged on a plan to take your throne. Magomed Ankalaev and his crew have undoubtedly been plotting out this battle for over a 12 months. And when you’ve got a very good gameplan crafted to disrupt your opponent’s capability to assault, you find yourself with what we noticed in Ankalaev vs. Pereira.
Now there’ll be all kinds of questions surrounding Pereira’s preparation for this bout. “Poatan” was famously cageside for UFC 312 in Australia, a mere 4 weeks away from his fateful battle with Ankalaev. He’s been hitting file metrics on YouTube and Instagram, however have his coaching classes been targeted sufficient to calibrate for every opponent?
“He put me up towards the cage, he actually didnt do something” – Alex Pereira on his loss towards ankalaev
I do know grappling just isn’t straightforward but when youre holding your opponent on the cage w.o doing something it makes the battle boring. UFC simply awarded cage holding#UFC313 pic.twitter.com/Xi2cQPS5Y3
— Jeri Tsai (@JeriTsaiNets) March 9, 2025
Pereira is a scholar of the battle sport by and thru. We don’t doubt his worldwide coaching camps lead to him getting a number of world class coaching with world class athletes. However he clearly didn’t spend weeks working the boring however important grappling towards the cage to maintain a fighter like Ankalaev from pinning him to the fence.
And you realize what? I’m unsure I need the Brazilian fighter to vary. The world could be a duller place if “Poatan” wasn’t displaying up in prank movies or arm wrestling Korean physique builders. Do we’d like him to drop every thing and alter his coaching fashion to counter blanket or wall n’ stall methods? Perhaps if we would like him to take the belt again and reign over the sunshine heavyweight division once more.
There’s a number of enjoyable fights on the market for Pereira at a number of weight lessons towards different opponents extra keen to throw down. He might simply return to the aspect quests, choose up a pair wins towards thrilling opponents, and make some huge cash. Or he might buckle down and spend an uncomfortable three months grinding towards the cage and shutting the holes Ankalaev used to beat him so we will see a rematch later this 12 months. Let’s see what he picks.
