Pressure too much for Poatan

About a week after UFC 313, I’ve finally had time to reflect on the main event, Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev where they crowned a new light heavyweight world champion. Alex came in as a slight favorite (-115). This matchup was really supposed to be a clash of two worlds, Dagestani wrestling vs. kickboxing. The anticipation was that Alex would dominate on the ground and when he landed enough shots, Magomed would shoot for a takedown. However reality was that Magomed did try takedowns and was 0-12, but did not need that part of his game to completely dominate the fight. The judges had the fight as 3-2 in favor of Magomed and I couldn’t agree more. After Magomed knocked Pereira down in the second round, Alex seemed to never recover and go back to that aggressive kickboxing pace. Because of that, Magomed ended up out-striking the striker 224-159. In terms of significant strikes, Magomed still landed more at 94 compared to Alex’s 76. 

Now the UFC has an interesting problem on their hands… another belt holder that hails from Dagestan that is seen as a “boring star”. Doesn’t talk much, not popular amongst the fans, and doesn’t have the most exciting fight style. All this would be fine assuming there is someone other than Poatan to challenge and take the belt from him. The only other fighter in the light heavyweight division that has his name in the conversation is Jiri Prochazka, who has already proved he isn’t on Alex’s level. So does the lack of stars mean a rematch between the two? It seems like that is the only chance of turning a boring champ into something worth caring about, creating a trilogy of fights. Until then Dagestan is like Thanos collecting belts like infinity stones. 

Liam Crowley

DiSportsPhotoAgency

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