“You’re That Scared of Getting Taken Down” — Ex-UFC Vet Confronts Alex Pereira to Defy His UFC 313 Loss to Magomed Ankalaev

As Bruce Buffer’s booming voice announced Magomed Ankalaev’s name as the winner, UFC boss Dana White went to wrap the UFC belt around him as he does for every winner. But his face? Sullen, with a tinge of disappointment. We all can imagine why. Magomed Ankalaev might have made history by defeating reigning light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira at UFC 313, but the MMA world isn’t happy with the outcome. Not only was the Dagestani underestimated before the fight, but after he won, most of the veterans, including the UFC boss, were disappointed at the outcome.

Even though veterans like Michael Bisping and Daniel Cormier were blaming Pereira’s lack of effort in the fight, former UFC fighter Brendan Schaub had something else to say. Schaub did not hold back and even called the fight ‘garbage’, writing on X that ‘Poatan’ won three rounds, “clear as day.”

He declared the same in his podcast recently. Schaub uploaded a snippet of the podcast where he spoke about how the Brazilian won the fight despite the scores saying otherwise. ‘Big Brown’ declared, “If you don’t have Alex win the first third. Third is, I’ll debate with you, I get it, but I can debate a winning round for Alex. One in five, if you don’t have Alex winning one and five, you don’t know the fu—sport.”

But then, he also reprimanded Pereira as well for being hesitant in the fight. He said, “So for Alex, you’re that scared of getting taken down by this guy who’s never finished, anybody? Does he even do ground and pound? You don’t have faith in your skillset that you can get back to your feet? You gotta sit down on your f—–g punches man. How else ya beat him?”

But all in all, Schaub is adamant that ‘Poatan’ won the fight even if he was scared of a takedown despite defending 11 of them from Ankalaev. The former heavyweight star even declared how bad it was for UFC to shed light on Dana White’s disappointment. Let’s be real, we all saw the crestfallen look on the head honcho’s face.

Schaub’s critique was echoed by the fans as well who flooded social media with calls to “fire the judges” arguing for Pereira’s masterclass striking and leg kicks that should have sealed the win. The controversy heightened as scorecards (49–46, 48–47, 48–47) revealed stark differences, with some rounds hotly debated. Schaub congratulated Ankalaev with a phrase dripping with sarcasm, “Enjoy that new champ,” showing his frustrations. However, what’s done is done and the only thing ‘Poatan’ can do is lick his wounds and get back to the drawing board.

Alex Pereira gave an interesting plan for his future

Shortly after the fight, ‘Poatan’s’ friend and training partner Glover Teixeria posted a rather surprising video on his gym’s official page. Instead of seeming agitated after losing his belt, Alex Pereira was happily dancing with his crew, smiling and having fun. In the caption of the video, Texeira justified the reason saying, “Didn’t get the W last night, but we still got some moves 🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼. Always stay positive even in times of adversity. We’ll be back 👊🏼.”

Pereira has proved himself by defending his belt 3 times and even saving Dana White by fighting on short notice at UFC 303. So it’s safe to assume that he knows his worth and the legacy he’s created in the UFC.

He was frustrated after the loss but he did not appear too shaken. When questioned about a rematch, Pereira said to Joe Rogan, “I’m going to take a few days off and get back to training. This is my life.”

He is already planning for a rematch after some much-needed rest, and we hopefully see that fight sometime later this year. Even Dana White seemed to be in favor of a rematch during the UFC 313 post-fight presser. Do you think we will get the rematch soon? Or will Pereira fulfill his goal of fighting Jon Jones in the heavyweight category?