When former two-division champion Alex Pereira looks back at his March title loss to current light heavyweight king Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313, he’s hesitant to share too many details about his condition that night.
Pereira (12-3) surprisingly defended all 12 takedown attempts from Anakalev (20-1-1, 1 NC) but still lost by unanimous decision in a fight that was much more technical than explosive. But something about Pereira appeared off and even UFC analyst Joe Rogan took part in the postfight conversation by going public with rumors that “Poatan” had been battling both a broken hand and a battle with norovirus.
Fighting hurt (not to mention on short notice) had been a recurring theme in Pereira’s six-fight run through the 205-pound division ever since he lost the middleweight title to Israel Adesanya in their 2023 rematch. And the 38-year-old Brazilian slugger made no excuses after the loss.
As the two prepare for their immediate rematch at next Saturday’s UFC 320 pay-per-view card in Las Vegas, however, some of the truth is starting to trickle out as Ankalev, a 33-year-old native of Dagestan, Russia, prepares for his first title defense in the main event.
Pereira still won’t admit what was bothering him in March but during an interview on Thursday with CBS Sports, he did openly admit he was physically compromised when asked how difficult it was to deal with the loss mentally after judges’ scores of 49-46 and 48-47 (twice).
“It was, of course [difficult],” Pereira said. “Dealing with that is not cool but honestly, if I put together everything that was going on with me — and I’m not going to say it right now — it makes me even happy that I was able to fight [and] to do the fight that I did with everything that was going on with me.”
Pressed for more details regarding what bothered him and why training camp was so tough, Pereira continued to keep his cards close to the vest.
“I’m not trying to talk about anything like that [in terms of what happened],” Pereira said. “Of course, I’m not happy with the loss but knowing my potential in life and the way that I fought, I’m surprised that I was even able to fight with everything that was going on.”
Pushed to at least give a percentage as to how compromised he actually was, Pereira relented and went on to say he believes a healthier performance in the rematch will equal a resounding victory.
“I have no doubt. I am very well prepared and I trained very good so I should be ready for this fight,” Pereira said. “Honestly, I was about 40% in that fight on that night. Obviously, it’s going to be much more this time. But [even] if I’m only 50%, that 10% is going to make such a difference that I’m going to leave no doubt for the fight.”
