If we told you going into UFC 313 that Magomed Ankalaev would go 0-for-12 on takedown attempts in his light heavyweight title fight against Alex Pereira, would you have thought that shaped up as a win for Ankalaev? Yeah, we wouldn’t either. That’s what happened, however, with Ankalaev using a surprisingly effective striking attack coupled with a suffocating clinch game to take the strap from Poatan.
And look, we get it. Everybody loves Pereira. We do, too. Literally nobody (besides his friends and family) is excited for the Ankalaev Era. But was Ankalaev’s performance really as boring as some people are saying? Or is that just our sadness about Pereira getting the best of us?
Plus, Dana White says a rematch is probably next for both guys. Is it, though? And we all know Justin Gaethje’s got that dog in him, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that he’s also really, really, really good.
