UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping questioned Alex Pereira’s thirst and hunger in the cage after UFC 313.
Alex Pereira‘s history-making light heavyweight title reign came to a dramatic end at UFC 313 against Magomed Ankalaev. Pereira struggled to deal with Ankalaev’s pace and pressure in all facets of MMA, especially in the later rounds in the clinch against the fence.
While the striking numbers between Pereira and Ankalaev were close, Ankalaev landed the more stunning shots throughout the matchup. He nearly dropped Pereira with a massive punch in Round 2, but Pereira was able to work through the pressure and stifle Ankalaev’s advances.
It was an uncharacteristic showing on the feet for Pereira, who won all three of his previous light heavyweight title defenses by knockout. But some of the struggles he had in his most recent fight against Khalil Rountree Jr. carried over into UFC 313.
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Michael Bisping questions Alex Pereira’s ‘desire to win’ after UFC 313 loss
Following Pereira’s first light heavyweight defeat, UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping took things a step further in his post-fight analysis, including questioning Pereira’s hunger against Ankalaev.
During a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Bisping reacted to Pereira’s showing at UFC 313.
“From Alex Pereira, it was just kind of a lazy performance. I didn’t see that real desire to want to win,” Bisping said of Pereira. “Ankalaev was big, strong, good enough to compete on the feet and of course, he had the takedown threat. And even though he didn’t get the takedown, the threat was as good as getting the takedown because it opened up the strikes for him. It stopped Pereira from being overly aggressive and didn’t want to go forward too much.
“For the most part, he was backed up for 25 minutes. Pushed up against the fence, controlled a bit. Takedown defense was on point…but you don’t win a fight by defending takedowns,” Bisping continued. “Alex Pereira, the people have come to expect a knockout, and in the fifth round…he just didn’t. And Ankalaev didn’t give him an opportunity and didn’t allow him…Pereira didn’t seem too happy, he felt that he had a case to win this one…but we see that happen all the time and Ankalaev landed the bigger shots, was more aggressive, was going forward and there was just more output…it wasn’t lazy in terms of Pereira wasn’t trying, not that he was out of breathe and tired, didn’t prepare…the general amount of output that we saw, it just wasn’t there.”
Leading up to UFC 313, UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier expressed concerns for Pereira’s busy final weeks ahead of the Ankalaev fight. Pereira cornered Sean Strickland at UFC 312 in Australia in the home stretch of his UFC 313 camp.
Pereira, who felt like he did enough to earn the nod at UFC 313, admitted he’ll need to ‘make some adjustments’ for a rematch with Ankalaev. UFC CEO Dana White seems on board with an immediate Ankalaev vs. Pereira rematch.
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Alex Pereira’s pre-fight traveling was criticized ahead of UFC 313
While Pereira trained during his global travels before UFC 313, some believe he wasn’t fully locked in when he entered the cage against Ankalaev. But his body of work makes a strong case for an immediate rematch with Ankalaev later this year.
After winning the then-vacant title at UFC 295, Pereira was on the cusp of snapping a Jon Jones-held record before losing at UFC 313. He defended the belt against Jiří Procházka, Jamahal Hill, and Rountree.
Pereira’s potential heavyweight move might be on hold after UFC 313. As the Jones vs. Tom Aspinall fight talks continue, Pereira will look to reclaim the light heavyweight throne.