Alex Pereira losing title to Magomed Ankalaev is a "nightmare" for the UFC and further complicates Jon Jones situation, says former heavyweight
A former UFC fighter has offered his thoughts on Alex Pereira's title loss to Magomed Ankalaev and how it may affect a potential Jon Jones vs. Pereira fight. He added that 'Poatan's' reign as the light heavyweight champion coming to an end might be worrisome for the promotion, given his superstar status.
Pereira would have been in the running for a super-fight against Jones had he beaten Ankalaev at UFC 313. However, the Brazilian delivered a subpar performance and lost his title by unanimous decision, with an immediate rematch between him and the Russian seemingly next.
Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub recently posted a video on his YouTube channel, sharing his opinion on Pereira's loss. Schaub stated that the end of Pereira's title run is a ''nightmare'' for the UFC.
''It’s a nightmare for the UFC that he [Magomed Ankalaev] won, A nightmare. Look at Dana’s [White] face. You can tell by his face. He’s looking at Bruce Buffer, and he just goes, ‘F*k.’ It’s a nightmare that Ankalaev’s the champ. It's a complete disaster across the board, he beat the biggest star.''
Schaub also noted that a Pereira victory may have led to a move to heavyweight, which isn't likely anymore.
''I tell you guys, the pressure is on Alex in this fight because the butterfly effect leads to heavyweight with Tom Aspinall, which heavyweights never been worse, that thing is a complete disaster. Jon Jones, clearly Aspinall's not getting him out of bed but Alex would have done it... Whether Alex beats Tom or not, it just builds Tom's credit a little more and that will get Jon out of bed.''
Check out Brendan Schaub's comments below (19:34):
Michael Bisping slams Alex Pereira for his lackluster performance at UFC 313
Former champion Michael Bisping has criticized Alex Pereira's performance against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. In a recent YouTube video, Bisping argued that Pereira was "lazy" in his most recent bout.
'The Count' said:
''From Alex Pereira, it was just kind of a lazy performance. I didn’t see that real desire to want to win... For the most part, he was backed up throughout 25 minutes, pushed up against the fence, controlled a little bit... The wrestling from Ankalaev certainly added to that, but what I mean by lazy is just the general amount of output that we saw, it just wasn’t there.” [H/t: MMA Junkie]
Check out Michael Bisping's comments below: