Alex Pereira Confirms UFC 313 Injury Rumours Following Loss To Magomed Ankalaev

Two-division UFC champion Alex Pereira has weighed-in with his own comments on his rumoured injury prior to his UFC 313 showdown with Magomed Ankalaev.

‘Poatan’ has revealed that he was dealing with an injury heading into his last UFC Light-Heavyweight Title fight, but isn’t using it as an excuse as to why he got beaten.

Alex Pereira Confronts UFC 313 Injury Rumours

Not many people expected Alex Pereira to lose his UFC Light-Heavyweight Title in his last fight at UFC 313. Pereira faced Magomed Ankalaev in the UFC 313 main event, losing via unanimous decision after five rounds of action.

This marked Pereira’s second defeat in the UFC, with his only other defeat being down at middleweight to Israel Adesanya. Pereira was on a five fight win streak at 205-pounds, including winning four UFC Light-Heavyweight Title fights.

The Brazilian’s loss was somewhat of a shock to the MMA world. ‘Poatan’ was disappointing by his usual high standards, but the fight was close enough.

In the aftermath of his defeat to the now 205-pound champion Ankalaev, there had been rumours circulating that Alex Pereira had gone into the match-up with an injury.

It turns out that those rumours were true as ‘Poatan’ has confirmed on The Ariel Helwani Show that he was dealing with an injury in the build-up to his UFC 313 main event showdown with Magomed Ankalaev.

This has been backed up by Joe Rogan, who revealed during a UFC London Fight Companion podcast that Pereira wasn’t fully fit for the fight and went into the bout with a sever hand injury:

“They say he fought with a broken hand and norovirus against Ankalaev. He fought with a broken toe before. When he beat Jiri Prochazka, he had a f***** up knee… He was basically fighting on one leg in the first fight,” concluded Rogan.

Alex Pereira Not Using Injury As Excuse For UFC 313 Loss To Magomed Ankalaev

During his appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Alex Pereira revealed that the rumours of him fighting Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 were indeed true.

Although the Brazilian fought through his injury and was close to winning the fight, it didn’t go his way. Ankalaev became the new UFC champion at UFC 313, with ‘Poatan’ losing the 205-pound belt after three straight successful defences.

Although Pereira has confirmed that he did fight with an injury, the 37-year-old isn’t making any excuses for his defeat. Pereira is taking nothing away from Magomed Ankalaev, but has insisted that he wants a rematch and has full confidence that he would avenge the defeat:

“I’m not trying to take anything away from Ankalaev, many people try to do that type of thing. I’m not this type of guy.

“Everyone goes through their own problems. I’m sure he had his own problems too. My hand is fine, but there are a lot of things that happened, but I’m not using them as excuses.

“I feel like an immediate rematch is right after everything that I’ve done for this division in the UFC. As soon as the contract gets in, I’m signing. It doesn’t have to be a knockout [in the rematch], but I feel that I have enough game to do whatever I want with this guy,” concluded Pereira.

Alex Pereira would likely go in as an underdog this time with the best UFC betting sites in the UK in a rematch with Magomed Ankalaev. Time will tell if the rematch comes to fruition, or if indeed Pereira goes down a different route.