Going into UFC 313, many fans were rallying for Alex Pereira to retain his light heavyweight belt in a dominant fashion. Yet, some fans were unsure owing to Magomed Ankalaev’s wrestling. But he never submitted anyone in his MMA career, and because of his striking proficiency, it looked like they would stand and exchange blows. However, the Russian quickly shut down ‘Poatan’ and his offensive arsenal with constant pressure from his takedown attempts. The Brazilian looked like he was out of rhythm.

The bout ended with a unanimous decision victory for Ankalaev and with this, Pereira’s reign has come to an end for now. Perhaps a rematch is possible by the end of this year. But this has done very little to console those who wanted to see the Brazilian defend his title successfully. Could UFC CEO Dana White be amongst those who are unhappy with Pereira getting dethroned?

On his Instagram account, Brendan Schaub posted a short clip from his podcast where he opined White was dejected. He stated: “If you don’t have Alex winning this fight, one, the and five [rounds], you ain’t s–t. You ain’t s–t Monday’s. If you don’t have Alex winning the first, third is, I’ll debate with you. I get it, but I can debate a winning round for Alex. One and five, if you don’t have Alex winning one and five, you don’t know the f—ing sport. So for Alex, like, you are that scared of getting taken down by this guy who has never finished anybody? Doesn’t go ground-and-pound.

“You don’t have faith in your skillset that you can get back to your feet. You gotta sit down your f—ing punches, man. How else you going to beat him? But again, still thought he [Pereira] won the fight. Even with that terrible game plan and having this terrible fear of getting taken down.

“It’s a nightmare for the UFC that he [Ankalaev] won. A nightmare. Look at Dana’s face. You can tell by his face he’s looking at Bruce Buffer, he just goes ‘F—!’ It’s a nightmare that Ankalaev’s champ!” Schaub opined. Even Jorge Masvidal seemed to agree with Schaub. When Schaub released his words on Instagram, ‘Gamebred’ took to the comments section and wrote, “Welll said.”

However, Schaub and Masvidal aren’t the only ones troubled by Pereira’s performance. Add former fighter Michael Bisping to the list. He had four rounds going in the Russian’s favor. Calling it a “lazy performance” for Pereira, he stated: “I didn’t see that real desire to want to win. Ankalaev was big, he was strong, he was 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 of the takedown 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.”

Alex Pereira may have stopped the takedowns, but it surely wasn’t enough to get a win by decision. All this was despite the Brazilian getting massive support from fans in the arena as they booed Ankalaev before, during, and after the fight.

While the concern regarding the fate of the light heavyweight realm felt like a nightmare for Pereira’s supporters, there was one more thing that worried the fight fans. And that was linked to Ankalaev’s statements about his victory over Alex Pereira. But what exactly did the new light heavyweight champion say?

Magomed Ankalaev trashes Alex Pereira after UFC 313 win!

During the UFC 313 post-fight press conference, Ankalaev weighed in on the fight against ‘Poatan’. The new champ said, “It was very different from what we envisioned because usually Pereira hunts for the finish. He moves forward. He tries to hunt down his opponents for the finish. Here it was very different. As you could see, he was running away from me. He wouldn’t let me work, and he himself wasn’t really working much, so, you saw the way it played out.”

Ankalaev even threw and landed more significant strikes than Pereira. He attempted 180 significant strikes and landed 94, while Pereira landed 76 out of 137. No wonder the judges gave it to Ankalaev, 49-46, 48-47, 48-47.

Now Pereria knows that he needs to work harder and that’s what he promised to do. He planned on getting back to training right away and preparing to get the LHW belt back. However, Ankalaev had just one condition. He was ready for a rematch, but Pereira had to fight for real. The Russian champ wasn’t really a fan of having his opponent run away for 20 minutes.

But what worried the fighting community the most was not Ankalaev’s wrestling skills. It was true that he neutralized Pereira’s knockout power and impeccable striking but the Russian’s striking was on point, too. He kept pushing ‘Poatan’ throughout the fight, leaving the Brazilian without authority. But hope still existed. ‘Poatan’ revealed, “He put some pressure on in the second round, but putting me up against the cage, he didn’t really do anything.”

Can this confidence help Alex Pereira reclaim the LHW throne? Only time will tell but let us know what you think in the comments down below.