Daniel Cormier Feels Pereira Was Threatened by Ankalaev’s Wrestling

Taking to his YouTube channel, Daniel Cormier discussed Magomed Ankalaev’s UFC title win over Alex Pereira. The UFC Hall of Famer, who was on the call for UFC 313, feels the threat of Ankalaev’s wrestling forced “Poatan” to think twice about his striking.

“It was kind of hard to give him [Ankalaev] the credit he deserves just because we have seen Pereira on so many occasions flip a fight,” Cormier said. “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 five, 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.”

UFC CEO Dana White admitted to reporters that there wasn’t as much action as he anticipated in the fight. Still, he thinks a rematch between Ankalaev and Pereira is likely. Cormier said he’d agree with this approach, as he doesn’t feel there’s another obvious No. 1 contender in the light heavyweight division.