The Alex Pereira train suddenly halted when he dropped his light heavyweight belt at UFC 313 to Magomed Ankalaev. The Dagestan native surprisingly defeated the former champion at his own game, i.e., in the striking department. Still, ‘Poatan’ seems to be fixated on getting his ground game better as a video clip of his recent training session made rounds on social media, garnering reactions from fans.
Yes, Magomed Ankalaev beat Alex Pereira in the striking, something that the Brazilian is one of the best at. However, the aggression, pace, and pressure from the reigning champion made it difficult for ‘Poatan’ to maintain his composure during the fight. Moreover, immediately after the fight, Pereira mentioned that he would come back as soon as possible for a rematch, which Ankalaev is open to offering. For that, the Brazilian star is pulling out all the stops.
Alex Pereira recently shared a video of himself engaged in grappling training in a pretty unusual setting for himself. The former champion had sparring partners who were, in fact, massive individuals, even bigger than him. They trained on a mud floor, which is common for wrestling in India and even on the continent of Africa. While Pereira failed at certain times, he was able to hold his own and defend against some of the takedown attempts from his sparring partners.
But why is ‘Poatan’ training in wrestling when, in fact, it was the battle on the feet that he lost? Should he be honing in on his striking? Well, remember those 11 takedowns he stuffed? Yeah, while he was successful in his wrestling defense, it didn’t do much in terms of scoring points for him in the fight overall. Besides, Pereira is a striking aficionado, who doesn’t need to sharpen the strong base he already has in that department. But training grappling would be wise as it would improve his skill pound-for-pound when going up against a well-rounded fighter like the current light heavyweight champion.
Well, there were reactions coming in from all directions—on X and Instagram—from fans on social media. What did they say? Well, they believe that this kind of grappling training may not cut it for Alex Pereira. He needs to do more. Here’s what they had to say.
Fans suggest Alex Pereira should go to Dagestan
It seems like Islam Makhachev‘s advice to Daniel Cormier about his sons’ wrestling has fans believing it would also work for Alex Pereira. Yes, they want him to go and train in Khabib Nurmagomedov and his protégés’ home soil in the Caucasus, which would help him deal with Ankalaev. “2-3 years dagestand bratha,” one fan commented. That doesn’t seem like a bad option, but it seems unlikely that Pereira would go into his rival’s territory. Meanwhile, there was another question that was bugging a fan.
The setting in which Alex Pereira was training seemed pretty odd to some fans. They’re never used to seeing him outside of a gym, prompting one fan to ask, “Where even is this LOL?” Every fighter has their way, with Jiri Prochazka and Samurai lifestyle being one example, so maybe Pereira was trying something new. The other thing that surprised a lot of fans was the size of his sparring partners, as we’ve already mentioned above. One fan commented, “These dudes are massive,” and another wrote, “He finally found people that make him look tiny haha,” in that regard.
Coming back to his training video, fans weren’t convinced by Alex Pereira’s decision to improve his grappling. They believe he needs to fix the holes in his striking first. A user on Instagram said, “I think he needs to work on his striking more. the left hand won’t help u everytime. and we saw what a complete striker like ankalaev did to him.” Adding to that, another fan wrote, “Bro was too focused on ankalev ground game but ankalev played a different game and outstriked him.” After getting called out for his striking, one fan also took issue with his grappling. “Bro needs more flexibility in the clinch.”
The rematch is probably going to take place, but it may take a couple of months. In the meantime, who do you think will end the year as the UFC light heavyweight champion? Drop your comments below.
The post All UFC Fans Agree on Same Thing as Alex Pereira Grapples ‘Massive’ Partner Amid Magomed Ankalaev Threat appeared first on EssentiallySports.