Ankalaev ends Pereira's UFC reign by decision

LAS VEGAS -- Magomed Ankalaev entered the Octagon as public enemy No. 1 to fan favorite Alex Pereira and left as the new UFC light heavyweight champion on Saturday night in the main event of UFC 313.

Ankalaev came out on top by beating "Poatan" to the punch in the first half of the fight and smothering his offense with clinch work in the second half. His stifling performance put a disappointing end to Pereira's historic light heavyweight title run, sucking the air out of T-Mobile Arena in a unanimous decision: Two judges scored it 48-47, and a third judge had it 49-46.

"I don't think anything surprised me," Ankalaev said. "I think I could have done a better job in the fight, but something just wasn't working out. But anyway, I'm really happy that I won."

UFC president Dana White said afterward that an immediate rematch between the two would "probably" happen.

Pereira (14-3), who rose to stardom over the past year and a half, had a chance to make history by becoming the first UFC fighter to successfully win a title fight five times in less than 500 days. He was unable to get anything going, however, as Ankalaev (20-1-1) forced him to fight off the back foot for much of the fight. The pressure prevented the Brazilian from uncorking his signature left hook and was relegated to looking for opportunities to counter, which Ankalaev never gave him.

Pereira deliberately targeted Ankalev's legs with calf kicks in the opening round in the hopes of compromising the challenger's mobility. It was a solid start, with 11 of 14 leg kicks landing, but Ankalaev never backed off and stayed on the front foot.

The second round saw a clear momentum shift as Ankalaev surprisingly beat Pereira to the punch. A left hand stunned Pereira midway through the round and a right hand rocked him in the final seconds.

As the rounds wore on and Pereria fell behind on the scorecards, Ankalaev intelligently shifted to crowding the champion with clinch work and utilizing the takedown threat to push Pereira against the cage fence and wear him down. The strategy worked, and Pereira looked unsure of himself in the corner before Round 5.

"We know that he puts people against the fence, and he plays that game, but giving him the win with a game plan like that, it kind of incentivizes people to do that against people," Pereira said in his postfight interview in the Octagon. "People might say it's a boring style, but when a guy gets a win doing that, it kind of makes people want to do that, too."

The style was more than effective, however, and by the final round, the ending was academic. Ankalaev played it safe by staying out of range to avoid taking any significant punishment from a desperate Pereira. By the time Pereira finally landed the left hand, it didn't have much on it. The punch brought the crowd to their feet, but Ankalaev immediately swarmed in, clinched and stymied any potential momentum swing as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

Pereira did land more total strikes than Ankalaev, 108-102, but 48 of those strikes were leg kicks, which didn't affect the fight. Even though Ankalaev was 0-for-12 on takedown attempts, his control time of 5 minutes, 42 seconds spelled out the difference in the outcome.

Ankalaev's win ended a historic reign from Pereira. The Brazilian won the light heavyweight title in November 2023 and defended it three times in 2024 as he rapidly ascended to stardom with each knockout win more impressive than the last.

However, Ankalaev was always in the shadows as the most dangerous threat to Pereira, having gone unbeaten in the Octagon since dropping his UFC debut in 2018. When they finally got in the Octagon, the reason that he was recognized as "The Boogeyman" of the 205-pound division was evident.

With the win, Ankalaev extends his unbeaten streak at light heavyweight to 14, second in UFC history to Jon Jones.

Although the crowd booed the result as their hero came up short, it was clear that there was a new leader of the light heavyweights.