Former UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has strongly denied allegations that he cheated during his UFC 313 headline fight against Magomed Ankalaev.
Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) lost his title to Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) by unanimous decision after a tense five-round battle in which the Dagestani fighter unsuccessfully attempted to take the former GLORY Kickboxing two-weight world champion down twelve times.
After the fight, Ankalaev's head coach, Sukhrab Magomedov, suggested that the Brazilian's flawless takedown defense may have been the result of greasing.
“To be honest, the plan from the beginning was to engage in wrestling — get close, in the clinch, wear him down,” Magomedov told Russian outlet Ushatayka. “But, when Magomed pushed him to the fence near our corner, it seemed to me that Pereira had some kind of substance on him. If my experience isn’t wrong, that’s what I’d say was the case.
“The sweat didn’t flow off his body, it gelled up,” he added. “That’s what it looks like on his body, too. Magomed said afterward that he smelled like he had some ointment on and was sticky.
“Let’s not forget that (Pereira's friend and coach) Glover Teixeira is a veteran of the game and knows all the tricks,” the interviewer added.
Alex Pereira Denies Cheating Allegations
Speaking with the aid of an interpreter (his coach Plinio Cruz) during an in-studio appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show on Wednesday, Alex Pereira rubbished the claims made by Ankalaev's team.
"I absolutely didn't put nothing on my body", the former champion told Helwani. "The way that his coach is putting on this (story) sounds for me that he's trying to make an excuse, looking for an excuse to justify the fact that he trained a guy to take me down, but the guy got stuffed (on) twelve of his takedown attempts.
"It's like when you're in a company and you mess up and you don't do what you're supposed to do, and then you try to make excuses to justify that. I absolutely didn't put nothing on my body".
Pereira enjoyed a successful career in the world of kickboxing before signing with the UFC in 2021 and going on to win world title in two weight classes. The 36-year-old is adamant that he has never broken the rules in either of the sports he has competed in.
"It upsets me, because even in my GLORY career I never did nothing that I was not supposed to", said the Brazilian. "Like if you watch one time that I got a point taken (away) on me, I think it was my last fight, because the referee was saying there was too much clinch (which there was not), but I always did eveything by the book and that's why everything worked so good in my career".
