Poatan loses belt to Ankalaev and disputes judges

Dominant in the first round of the UFC 313 main fight, Poatan was losing speed over time, becoming more aggressive only in the fifth robbery. Ankalaev tried to overthrow the then champion 12 times, without any success.

Despite the improvement in fall defenses, the Brazilian seems to have spent a lot of energy not to be overthrown, which made the Russian clearly stand out in two of the five rounds. The most balanced robbery was the third, when Alex reached 35 low kicks against Ankalaev, who resisted well.

Unsuccessfully in the attempts of falling, Magomed then changed strategy and pressed Pereira against the grid, even dominating him for three minutes in the fourth round. Faced with the lack of action, the judge had to stop the struggle to separate them.

Poatan grew again only in the fifth round but still unrecognizable, without any striking attempt to knock out. The Brazilian defended himself from 12 falls and granted 17 more significant blows than the Russian, but it was not enough to convince the trio of referees.

POATAN disputes judges’ decision

The result left Poatan visibly frustrated, as in his view he won three of the five rounds and, in fact, injured the Russian more than he was injured.

The now former champion criticized Ankalaev’s fighting style, which made the confrontation out without action while dominating the Tupiniquim in the grid.

“He put pressure on his room round, but put me on the grid and did nothing. In the grid, I hurt him more than he injured me, the difference is that I was on my back to the grid,” said the Brazilian after the result.

Pereira also stated that this kind of result can spoil the public experience, which prefers to see an explosive struggle than a torn fight – and in fact, The Brazilian was cheered with each blow, while the Russian was booed whenever he went to the grid.

“Sticking to the grid, doing nothing and giving him a victory? This influences other fighters doing this. There will be a boring fight that no one wants to see,” he said, against the decision of the judges.