The UFC’s light heavyweight champion has responded to the aftermath of the biggest win of his career.
After his disappointing performance in the main event of UFC 313, Alex Pereira confirmed rumors of injuries and illness that he battled ahead of March 8.
Pereira also hit out as Magomed Ankalaev’s coach who accused him and his team of greasing to make it harder for his opponent to take him down.
Both men are now heading towards a rematch with Ankalaev throwing August out as a potential timeframe for their second encounter.
Following his opponent’s recent comments on the factors that impacted his performance earlier this month, the titleholder responded with some of his own.
Magomed Ankalaev says he only trained for four week ahead of UFC 313
Alex Pereira didn’t look himself at UFC 313 and regardless of the outside factors that led to this, Magomed Ankalaev also deserves credit for his performance.
The new champion fought very well over five rounds to win a unanimous decision despite not being able to take ‘Poatan’ down.
When Pereira confirmed an injury to his hand and some sickness issues that he was dealing with ahead of the fight, he did also state that he didn’t want to go into too much detail out of respect for Ankalaev.
Whilst no one has spoken about what the new champion could have also potentially fought through due to the fact that his performance was impressive and not unlike his other outings inside the Octagon, the Russian addressed this in a recent post.
Ankalaev posted on social media that for fans who believe that the rematch will be different with a healthy Pereira the next time around, they’re mistaken because he also had far less than ideal preparations for March 8.
The champion stated that his training camp was significantly reduced meaning that his opponent’s best opportunity to get his hand raised has already passed.
“I only train four weeks from my last fight the ufc know this this was his best chance”
Ankalaev also posted the following message to Pereira’s comments about the fight during his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show.
“He upset I hold him against the cage, but he not upset when I almost knock him out nobody in the world thank you won next Fight will be KO under three round”
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Magomed Ankalaev also has room for improvement in the rematch
There has certainly been more conversation surrounding Alex Pereira’s performance at UFC 313 rather than Magomed Ankalaev’s.
Whilst the former champion has some clear things that he can improve upon for a rematch, the same can be said for the defending titleholder.
He was unable to take ‘Poatan’ down over five rounds and whilst this didn’t end up affecting the result in Las Vegas, having the takedown become a bigger threat would be a huge advantage for Ankalaev.
Pereira is going to come into their rematch incredibly confident that he can keep the fight standing but all it takes is one successful attempt to change that and flip the fight on its head.