Tom Aspinall is perplexed by the scoring decisions in the MMA community that favored Alex Pereira in the UFC 313 main event.
Earlier this month, Magomed Ankalaev defeated Pereira by unanimous decision to become light heavyweight champion at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The scoring of the UFC 313 main event was highly contested, with media members and fans divided. On MMA Decisions. nine members scored the bout for Pereira, which Aspinall finds incomprehensible.
And the interim heavyweight champ was similarly baffled by those who branded the March 8 main event “boring.”
“I think Ankalaev just had him guessing a lot,” Aspinall said in an interview with JNMediaUK. “I think Pereira’s level on the ground, I don’t know what level he’s at, but I think he’s still a bit wary of getting taken down. He definitely defended the takedowns well, but me with an educated eye watching it, I don’t think Ankalaev was really trying to take him down that much. He definitely tried a couple of times. I think he did 10 or 11 takedown attempts, but I would say only two or three of them he went full blast.
“I think the rest of the time, he was trying to tire him out with the grappling standing, like the cage grappling stuff. I think Ankalaev had the perfect game plan. He didn’t overcommit, tired him out. I can’t believe people watched that fight and thought that Pereira won. It was just wild to me how many uneducated fans are out there and how many uneducated fans thought it was a boring fight, as well. I thought it was an amazing fight, both guys did good, and I think Ankalaev was just a lot better than him on the night. That’s it.”
Despite Alex Pereira’s recent loss, which potentially benefits Tom Aspinall as he awaits his title unification fight with Jon Jones, Aspinall believes Pereira could still transition to the heavyweight division in the future.
“He can do whatever he wants, can’t he? He’s an absolute megastar,” Aspinall said. “I think there’s fights to be made at middleweight, light heavy or heavy for him. He can do whatever he wants.”
