Alex Pereira’s ‘Debatable’ UFC 313 Loss Has MMA Influencer Urging Dana White and Co. to Create Contender Series for Judges

The fallout from Alex Pereira’s UFC 313 loss to Magomed Ankalaev is nowhere near settling down. Fans have been vocal about their frustrations, calling the fight a robbery. Their biggest gripe? That Ankalaev spent most of the fight ‘hugging’ Pereira, clinging on for dear life instead of fighting. Even though that wasn’t true, it seems this particular MMA influencer has taken it to heart and is now coming at the judges.

The idea behind of all of these arguments by Pereira fans has been rather simple. Even though Pereira showed incredible skill by defending all 11 of Ankalaev’s takedown attempts, earning himself a perfect 100% takedown defense rate, it still wasn’t enough to get his hand raised.

The problem? Pereira’s defensive masterclass came at the cost of his offense. He spent so much energy defending Ankalaev’s grappling that he was outstruck by the Dagestani.

But what’s rubbing fans the wrong way is that Ankalaev won by decision without ever truly dominating Pereira. It’s prompted heated debates about the quality of UFC judging.

This particular influencer, who goes by “MMA Chick” took to social media to air her frustrations, not only about the Pereira vs. Ankalaev fight but also about the Mairon Santos vs. Francis Marshall bout at UFC 313.

And her solution? Make becoming a judge as difficult as becoming a UFC fighter. ” I want drug tests, I want IQ tests…Put them on contender series, give them their own contender series,” she demanded.

The influencer’s words have been echoing around the MMA community. Fans are growing tired of seeing close fights determined by judges who probably see something the rest of the community doesn’t. It does seem to have become a recurring thing with the UFC.

Perhaps they should be held to a higher standard.

Unfortunately, the UFC doesn’t pick the judges. They are appointed and assigned by whatever Athletic Comission presides over the city where the event is being hosted.

That said, Pereira lost the fight because he had a bad plan and fought poorly. Ankalaev won because he was smart, and he figured out the best way to counter Pereira’s striking was to force him to move back.

The Brazilian likes pressing his opponents into a corner and forcing the issue. Weirdly enough, nobody in the UFC had previously thought of pressing him and seeing how he reacts, something Ankalaev did with great success. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for the likes of MMA Guru.

MMA Guru berates judges for Pereira loss

Twitter influencer MMA Guru, who made his name by breaking down fights, roasting big names in the UFC, and even for his controversial takes, was naturally not happy with the UFC 313 scoring.

Guru felt the fight was clearly leaning towards ‘Poatan‘ after what he believed was a good performance from the champion for stuffing down takedowns.

It’s a rather casual take, for the lack of a better word, since stuffing downs don’t result in points under the unified rules. It’s the same logic as not getting points for avoiding getting punched in the face. It’s kind of your… job.

Regardless, as the final result was announced on air, the influencer went on a little rant on Twitter, saying, “UFC just gave a belt to a man for literally holding someone up against a cage Not a combat sport Rewarding absolute cowardice in the highest level of the sport as we know it”

Now, it is true that the standard of refereeing has been abysmal in MMA for a very long time, but the Pereira-Ankalaev fight is not the hill anyone should want to die on. It was a poor fight on all accounts. But Ankalaev did what he always does – win by points. Unfortunately, it was Pereira who simply dropped the ball.