Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Alex Pereira has reached almost super-heroic heights with its monumental race through the lightweight heavyweight division which included five consecutive victories, four consecutive knoccouts in title fights and four victories against former champions. But like so many superstars in front of him, the Brazilian finally had to crash on earth and this occurred more than five rounds spent in the octagon with Magomed Ankalaev last Saturday evening at the UFC 313.
Although far from poor performance given the closure of the fight, Pereira apparently had trouble pressing the trigger, and he spent a large part of his 25 minutes in the octagon to descend and control by Ankalaev, which has in fact not marked a single withdrawal. It was ultimately a very intelligent strategy used by Ankalaev and she exhibited some weaknesses in the almost invincible aura that Pereira built at 205 pounds, but losing does not necessarily mean that the former champion was understood.
“I don’t think the exhibition is the right word, but I think it humanized it,” said UFC Matt Brown’s legend about Pereira in the last episode of The fighter against the writer. “Because he lived on all this media threw. The UFC is masterful of the hyping of the guys. I think all of us, and it is difficult for anyone or the clever followers of the game like me or you or fighters who understand all the subtleties of this, it is difficult for us to ignore the quantity of media that put it. They do it all the time.
“They did it with Conor (McGregor), they did it with Ronda (Rousey), they do it with Alex. It is a constant thing. Jon Jones is the only guy who lived up to this, and I say in a way because he lost (Dominick) Reyes. He had narrow fights, but he is in a way the only guy who really experienced this media and not lost threshing. »»
Because Pereira has walked in all its title fights since its passage to a light heavy goods vehicle, it is almost forgotten that it has faced adversity earlier in his UFC career – especially when it was eliminated by Israel Adesanya before moving to a new division.
But Brown is quick to emphasize that what happened to Pereira in his fight against Ankalaev arrives at practically all the great UFC champions at one time or another.
“This sport is what is happening,” said Brown. “You become humanized if you continue to fight. Presentation, I would not necessarily say exposed because Ankalaev did not obtain dismantling. If he had brought him down and had beaten the shit on the ground, ok he was exposed. We know very clearly what it is now, but he has very well defended his withdrawals. Even did a lot of damage while being pushed against the cage.
“So, I think the exhibition is the bad word, but I think that suddenly, this media gear by Pereira may have stopped but he slowed down a lot. He is always a great fighter. It is always all we thought it was, but the UFC somehow overestimated their cards. »»
Although it is a disappointing night for Pereira, he could have the opportunity to correct this in his next fight with the CEO of the UFC, Dana White, already teasing an immediate revenge match.
The Light Weights Division has no candidate for the Cup Claire N ° 1 and Pereira was a triple defending champion before Ankalaev dethroned him.
The loss at the UFC 313 definitively stings, but Brown thinks that there is a positive that can result from it, especially if Pereira is able to build an even greater rivalry with Ankalaev before the revenge match.
“This is the age of the short period of attention,” said Brown. “Everyone will forget it. The next fight will be very big. Everyone will forget that it was a crazy crazy fight. I didn’t find that too boring as everyone. I was interested in the tactics and the strategies they used. I was actually surprised to see how much Ankalaev was for a short time, how much he stood with him, I thought he would grow much stronger.
“If the UFC could turn this (rivalry), it could be really, really big for Alex. Because now he is in fact the first guy in the history of combat sport that I could think that could have two main main rivals to build the power of the stars (after having already fought Adesanya). »»
If there is a drawback to this scenario, it is that Pereira is about to be 38 years old and that a second defeat against Ankalaev could be devastating for his future efforts.
Losing two fights did not necessarily condemn the potential of Pereira to fight entertaining fights and to deliver some other backfits of repression, but suffering from consecutive losses against Ankalaev definitively damages.
When it comes to drawing energy in the UFC, it may be even more precious than gold.
“I do not think it is doing or die, but in terms of star power, it may be one to do or die so that he is as tall as him,” said Brown. “If he goes there and loses again against Ankalaev in a revenge match … It is not even doing it or death, but his star power goes so exponentially above if he goes out and works Ankalaev. He goes there and puts a blow on him, his star power goes again through the F * Cking roof. He is back at the top.
“If he loses, it’s not (that he is dead), you are not going to fight Jon Jones or (Tom) aspinall probably. Maybe you retire. Who knows where his mind is, but if you want another title shot, you have to go up your way, my friend.
