Tom Aspinall is straight-up baffled that anyone could’ve watched UFC 313 and thought Alex Pereira beat Magomed Ankalaev. Earlier this month, Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) took Pereira’s (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) light heavyweight belt with a unanimous decision at T-Mobile Arena in Vegas. The media scorecards were a toss-up—nine outlets gave it to Pereira, per MMA Decisions—but Aspinall, the interim UFC heavyweight champ, can’t wrap his head around that take.
“I think Ankalaev just had him guessing a lot,” Aspinall said in a chat with *JNMediaUK*. “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 would 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. I can’t believe people watched that fight and thought that Pereira won. 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, and I think Ankalaev was just a lot better than him on the night. That’s it.” Aspinall’s breaking it down like a mate at the pub—Ankalaev played it smart, wore Pereira out, and ran the show. To him, it’s nuts that some folks saw it any other way, let alone called it dull. Guy’s got a point: it was a chess match with fists, and Ankalaev was the grandmaster.
Pereira’s slip-up might’ve been a sneaky win for Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC), who’s itching to unify the heavyweight title against Jon Jones. Still, he’s not counting Pereira out of the big-man division someday. “He can do whatever he wants, can’t he? He’s an absolute megastar,” Aspinall said of Pereira. “I think there’s fights to be made at middleweight, light heavy or heavy for him. He can do whatever he wants.” Fair play—Pereira’s a walking highlight reel with star power to burn. Loss or not, Aspinall sees him crashing any weight class he fancies. For now, though, Aspinall’s just shaking his head at the scorecards and loving the chaos of it all.
