One of the best minds in the game dissects Alex Pereira’s title-losing performance.
Every MMA fan fancies themselves as a pundit, although it’s a safe bet that not many of us will ever come close to the experience and insight of Tristar Gym’s Firas Zahabi.
Coach to the legendary Georges ‘Rush’ St. Pierre and countless other top-tier UFC talent, Zahabi certainly knows his stuff – so what did he have to say about Alex Pereira’s title defeat this past weekend?
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Firas Zahabi dissects Alex Pereira’s performance at UFC 313
Breaking down the UFC 313 main event via the Tristar Gym YouTube channel, Firas Zahabi started his dissection by admitting “It wasn’t the most exciting fight, but still, it was an incredible result.”
Whilst the 205lb title scrap wasn’t particularly entertaining to watch, Zahabi noted that he was ‘amazed’ with the fact that Magomed Ankalaev was able to out-strike Alex Pereira throughout.
“It wasn’t the most exciting fight but here’s what’s amazing, Ankalaev outstruck him the whole fight… Pereira wasn’t throwing, even though his corner was begging him to throw between rounds.
“Pereira was hesitant, after round one he was hesitant – he got stunned and ever since, he was hesitant… Now I have my ideas as to why he was hesitant.”
The veteran coach argued that primarily speaking, Pereira was so fearful of ending up on his back that he became unusually gun-shy on the feet – or as Zahabi defined it, ‘Paralysis by analysis’.
“Number one, he was worried about the takedown, he didn’t want to get taken down, it was on his mind and after he got stunned, now he’s worried about the striking and the takedowns – it was too much.
“He had to think twice before he throws, and he was like ‘paralysis by analysis’. He was trying to predict what Ankalaev was going to do… He never took the risk; he was highly conservative… He was overwhelmed by the threat of wrestling.”
Zahabi acknowledged that Pereira has more than enough experience to deal with front-foot pressure fighters like Ankalaev but when combined with the takedown threat and early daze, it was all just too much for ‘Poatan’ to handle.
“I thought Pereira was going to pick up in rounds four and five like he has done in the past… I think he had an off night, and he was overwhelmed maybe by the threat of wrestling, but he didn’t throw much… It was crazy, and it surprised everybody.”
Firas Zahabi says Alex Pereira ‘at best’ lost the fight 48-47
Even now, five days after UFC 313, there are those who claim that Alex Pereira should’ve won the title fight on the judges’ scorecards – Zahabi argues it was ‘at best’ 3-2.
“Round one, Pereira did incredible. He was very dominant; it looked like Pereira was going to kick Ankalaev’s leg out… However, the low kicks are not as powerful because he’s not kicking with his power side.
“Round two, Ankalaev hurts Pereira, stuns him, puts him under pressure… Round three wasn’t a super active round for either fighter but Ankalaev kind of edged it out.
“What can I say, rounds four and five even for Ankalaev – I know a lot of people gave round three to Pereira, okay, give him round three, he still loses three-to-two at best.”
Heading into the fifth and final round, all three judges had Ankalaev one round up – two of the three officials scored round five to ‘Poatan’, culminating in a UD win for the Russian.
“It was a one-sided edging,” concluded Zahabi, simply celebrating the fact that Ankalaev did what needed to be done in order to “just edge every round.”