Former UFC Champion rejects open forum discussion on fighter injuries amid Alex Pereira UFC 313 Rumor

Alex Pereira’s defeat at UFC 313 came as a shock to many who expected that the Brazilian fighter would have an edge over the Dagestani fighter Magomed Ankalaev . With a unanimous decision, Ankalaev became the new light heavyweight champion at the UFC. Even though Pereira put up a decent fight, landing multiple kicks and thwarting Ankalaev’s attempts to bring the battle down to the ground, several MMA experts believed that Pereira was not at his best during the fight. Joe Rogan, the American podcaster, stated that the Brazilian fighter was fighting with a broken arm and was affected by the novovirus at the same time. Recently, in an interview, former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was of the same opinion when he was asked to comment on Pereira’s loss.
Robert Whittaker claims that the next match for Alex Pereira will be markedly differentThe UFC 313 main card, despite the injury rumors, was still an engaging fight. The third and final round was the most engaging one. While Pereira dodged the attempts made by Anakalaev for a ground battle, the Dagestani fighter started engaging the former in clinches. The Brazilian fighter only rolled up his sleeves towards the end of the championship round, which was a bit too late for the fighter now. The results ultimately leaned in the favour of Ankalaev.

Speculations regarding Poaton’s injury started making the rounds once Joe Rogan revealed that the fighter was out there in the battle with a broken hand and norovirus. However, in an interview with Ariel Helwani, the fighter denied the claims of having a broken hand. He did agree that he was going through something, but would reveal it only after his win at the highly possible rematch with Ankalaev. Fans might get to see the rematch owing to the lack of contenders across the division and Pereira being the biggest draw of the UFC.

With the rematch being a possibility, it has sparked the talks of how it might go down for the fighters, considering that Pereira will get the time to recover from whatever is going on with him.


“Fighters do deal with stuff all the time. No fighter goes into a fight 100%” Robert Whittaker stated, “There are plenty of times fighters fight with legitimate excuses. Just that you can’t say that because that makes you look salty”

At the MMArcade podcast, when asked about Pereira’s case, the former UFC champion replied, “His excuses are very real and and everybody has pried these out of him. His excuses are very real and so maybe the next fight will be markedly different.”

During the podcast, Whittaker straightaway refused the necessity of an open forum for fighters to talk about their injuries and issues. “No. If there ia a forum, I am gonna be watching it to see if my opponent cries like a bitch.”

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A rematch between Pereira and Ankalaev is out there somewhere, awaiting confirmation from the UFC. This has had fans thinking if they would get to see the Brazilian fighter in a better state and if he would be giving out his 100% inside the Octagon.