Magomed Ankalaev may have coincidentally done a favor for interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall when he beat Alex Pereira in the UFC 313 main event.
Prior to the event, Pereira had teased a possible move to heavyweight in the future after fielding a lot of questions about a potential showdown against Jon Jones. Of course, Aspinall has been impatiently waiting on his own opportunity to face Jones to unify the UFC heavyweight title but a Pereira win over Ankalaev could have possibly messed with those plans.
In the end, Ankalaev vanquished Pereira during the five-round fight, although there were a few cries that the Brazilian deserved to get the nod that night. It’s an argument that Aspinall absolutely doesn’t understand no matter how much that fight could have potentially impacted his future.
“I can’t believe people watched that fight and thought that Pereira won,” Aspinall told JNMediaUK on YouTube. “It was just wild to me how many uneducated fans are out there and how many uneducated fans thought it was a boring fight as well.
“I thought it was an amazing fight, both guys did good. But I think Ankalaev was just a lot better than him on the night. That’s it.”
While Ankalaev didn’t necessarily come close to a finish, he consistently frustrated Pereira with his forward aggression, takedown attempts and constant pressure that just never allowed the Brazilian to settle into any kind of rhythm.
Aspinall was very impressed with Ankalaev’s strategy because for all the talk about his grappling superiority in the fight, he didn’t really even need to take Pereira down to beat him.
“I think Ankalaev just had him guessing a lot,” Aspinall said. “I think Pereira’s level on the ground, I don’t know what level he’s at, but I think he’s still a bit wary of getting taken down. He definitely defended the takedowns well but me with an educated eye watching it, I don’t think Ankalaev was really trying to take him down that much. He definitely tried a couple of times. I think he did 10 or 11 takedown attempts but I’d say only two or three of them he went full blast.
“I think the rest of the time, he was trying to tire him out with the grappling standing, like the cage grappling stuff. I think Ankalaev had the perfect game plan. He didn’t overcommit, tired him out.”
Tom Aspinall shocked anybody scored Alex Pereira beating Magomed Ankalaev: ‘Wild to me how many uneducated fans are out there’
Tom Aspinall praises Magomed Ankalaev and admits he was shocked that anybody actually watched that fight and walked away believing that Alex Pereira deserved the win at UFC 313