Don’t we all love it when underdogs rise to the occasion, giving their opponents a fierce battle and ultimately claiming victory? The story of Alex Pereira and Magomed Ankalaev is a perfect example. A warrior from the mountains with an unrelenting dream to seize the light-heavyweight title, Ankalaev didn’t just show up — he delivered in spectacular fashion. Not only did he defeat Pereira, but he also outstruck him, something unheard of in Pereira’s career until now. The sheer dominance of Ankalaev’s performance has left the MMA fraternity stunned. Many within the community believe that ‘Poatan’ was robbed of his victory but Joe Rogan would beg to differ.
While having a conversation on his latest JRE podcast, the multi-million dollar podcaster emphasized that Magomed Ankalaev deserved the victory as he had done his homework to find the shortcomings of Pereira to defeat him. Rogan argues that, unlike others who believe the clash was not exciting, he finds a more technical approach to the fight more interesting than a straightforward knockout. “We are talking about how exciting the Ankalaev vs. Pereira fight was, even though people didn’t like it because it wasn’t some crazy, giant knockout like you get in most of Pereira’s fights,” said Rogan.
He further added, “But it was so technical, and Ankalaev just did a fantastic job shutting down the scariest guy in the division. It was so interesting because the consequences of exchanging against Pereira were so high, but Ankalaev was not looking for a way out. Ankalaev has knocked out some of the best guys in the division and only lost one time. That time, Paul Craig had the nastiest, sneakiest triangle.”
With a career record of 21 victories and only one defeat, Magomed Ankalaev‘s championship reign was nothing but a relentless pace to prove everyone wrong. It would not be wrong to state that the majority of the MMA fans were expecting Alex Pereira to grab the victory but the Dagestani striking came out of syllabus for many. Imagine this, you have been witnessing back-to-back victories against the top shots of the light-heavyweight division and finally, you face a thrashing defeat without even using any weapon in your arsenal. This fact might be hurting Pereira.
However, the story might change a bit when the fighters face each other again soon as both the fighters have already decided to clash with each other in a rematch. Former light-heavyweight champion and ‘Poatan’s opponent has come forward to ascertain to predict the winner of the rematch.
Jamahal Hill ready to put his money on Alex Pereira’s victory in a rematch
Jamahal Hill traded hands with Alex Pereira back at UFC 300, despite the defeat, ‘Sweet Dreams’ constantly called out Pereira for a rematch. However, it appears that after his loss to Jiri Prochazka, Hill has become more liberal in his approach towards his opponents. In his confession to the media, the former light-heavyweight champion emphasized that Alex Pereira would certainly clinch the victory in the rematch.
“I think he can, I think he’s very capable of making the adjustments that he needs to make to win that fight. He’s going to have to be locked into the gym to where he don’t get tired, he’s going to have to up his cardio a lot because his output is going to have to go up. His output with the kicks, adding more kicks and working a lot more of having a higher volume with kicks in this fight would get it done. But, we’ll see,” said Hill.
Alex Pereira’s defeat was a shocker for everyone in the combat sports community including his former opponents. Why? Well, that’s because ‘Poatan’ was not his usual self in that fight as he was not even trying to defend his belt but things might change in the rematch. Given that, what are your thoughts on the hubbub? State your opinion.
The post “They Didn’t Like It” – Joe Rogan Gets Honest on Magomed Ankalaev’s Win Against Alex Pereira at UFC 313 appeared first on EssentiallySports.
