Tom Aspinall surprised 'uneducated fans' thought Alex Pereira beat Magomed Ankalaev

Tom Aspinall can’t understand how certain people scored the UFC 313 main event in favor of Alex Pereira.

Magomed Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) defeated Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) by unanimous decision to become light heavyweight champion earlier this month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Media outlets were almost split in their scoring of the fight (h/t MMA Decisions), with nine members awarding Pereira the fight. Interim UFC heavyweight champion Aspinall finds it baffling that anyone could have thought Pereira won.

“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.”

Pereira’s loss may have served Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) well as he eagerly waits for his title-unification bout with UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones. However, Aspinall still thinks Pereira could move up to heavyweight down the line.

“He can do whatever he wants, can’t he? He’s an absolute megastar,” Aspinall said of Pereira. “I think there’s fights to be made at middleweight, light heavy or heavy for him. He can do whatever he wants.”