Alex Pereira misplaced his UFC mild heavyweight title this previous Saturday in Las Vegas, with Magomed Ankalaev narrowly profitable an in depth five-round resolution to say the 205-pound gold in the primary occasion of UFC 313.
Unsurprisingly, Pereira’s coaches disagree with the scorecards.
Plinio Cruz and Glover Teixeira mentioned the outcome on a video posted Wednesday on Pereira’s YouTube web page, saying they noticed their fighter being superior in rounds one, three and 5. All three judges have been unanimous in giving “Poatan” the sting within the first, with just one choose scoring the fifth in his favor. Ankalaev received the third spherical with a 10-9 rating in each official scorecard.
“We had this defeat, however in my view he received,” Teixeira mentioned. “He misplaced on factors, so now we return to the drafting board and regulate a couple of issues, practice exhausting and return and get this rematch and make historical past. Poatan has made historical past earlier than, and he’ll make historical past once more. He’s a fantastic warrior and I’m very pleased with him.”
Cruz echoed Teixeira and vowed to assist Pereira get again on monitor and reclaim the belt if given a rematch. On prime of that, Cruz noticed UFC 313 as a studying expertise not just for the fighter, however the complete workforce.
“Life is manufactured from ups and downs, and people ups and downs are what make us who we’re on this journey to our objective,” Cruz mentioned. “We’ll come again stronger, regroup as a workforce. The vibe was nice this week, now we have no excuses. Poatan was advantageous, and I feel he received the battle. It is a stumble, not a fall, and it’ll solely make him stronger, our workforce stronger. People evolve extra in occasions of adversity.
“Rivalries make us develop. It went his means this time, so we’ll practice extra, examine extra, get higher, to ship you a greater model of Poatan. Extra imply. What this man’s achieved was make it worse for him as a result of now he’ll battle ‘Poatan 2.0.’ It’s occurred to Poatan earlier than, it’s not the primary time, and a real champion is the one which stumbles however continues shifting ahead and reconquers it. Poatan will reconquer the belt within the rematch. A extra imply model. And our workforce will probably be on a degree that’s increased than it already is.”
Pereira complained about Ankalaev’s technique instantly after the bout, saying judges shouldn’t reward a fighter that holds onto his opponents for many of a spherical, however has but to observe the battle to offer his personal ideas on the choice.
“In fact it’s not the outcome I needed,” Pereira mentioned. “We have been assured for this battle, I used to be properly. I skilled exhausting. Some issues occur, in fact, however I don’t need to give excuses. I do know we’ll have the rematch, we’re already in talks — for every little thing I’ve achieved and the way in which the battle went. Many individuals contested [the decision] and have been doubtful. I haven’t watched the battle but, I’ll watch to have my opinion, [because] it’s exhausting to have an concept if you’re in there.”
