Daniel Cormier praised Magomed Ankalaev for his strategy at UFC 313.
Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) dethroned Alex Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) to become light heavyweight champion in a unanimous decision win Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Although he failed to land any takedowns, Ankalaev’s pressure gave Pereira problems on the feet. Cormier thinks the numerous takedown attempts by Ankalaev are what had “Poatan” tentative and backing up.
“It was kind of hard to give him the credit he deserves just because we have seen Pereira on so many occasions flip a fight,” Cormier said of Ankalaev on his YouTube channel. “Guys, this is two fights in a row where we have seen ‘Poatan’ kind of losing. Tonight, he wasn’t able to work himself back into the fight. Magomed Ankalaev fought a beautiful fight. Honestly, Pereira landed a few jabs.
“In Round 5, he landed a nice head kick, but the vast majority of the fight it was Magomed Ankalaev pressuring him, able to land shots – maybe not big shots, but land shots and fight him very competitively on the feet. I believe that the reason he was able to fight him so well on the feet is because he has that threat of the wrestling, and when you have that threat of the wrestling it makes you a much harder person to deal with.”
Cormier wants to see the pair run things back simply because he thinks it’s the most logical option when assessing the lay of the land at light heavyweight.
“He fought a wonderful fight and showed that he was not wrong in saying ‘I can stand with him,’” Cormier said. “Because he did have to stand for 25 minutes against the most dangerous striker in the UFC, possibly UFC history, and he came out as the champion. But I want to see a rematch between these two. I don’t see anyone else that should be fighting Magomed Ankalaev for that belt but ‘Poatan’ Alex Pereira.”
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