Home / Sports / Makhachev Dismisses Pereira's Excuses for UFC 313 Loss
Makhachev Dismisses Pereira's Excuses for UFC 313 Loss
11 Nov
Summary
- Makhachev and manager Abdelaziz reject Pereira's injury claims for UFC 313 loss
- Makhachev says "Just lose or win, you know" - no excuses matter after a year
- Makhachev confident he can beat light heavyweight champ Pereira despite size gap
In the lead-up to his upcoming title fight, Islam Makhachev has dismissed the excuses made for Alex Pereira's loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 last year. Many in the MMA world, including commentator Joe Rogan, had attributed Pereira's defeat to lingering effects of a norovirus infection and a broken hand.
However, neither Makhachev nor his manager, Ali Abdelaziz, who also represents Ankalaev, are convinced by these claims. As Abdelaziz pointed out, "Everybody is hurt, nobody is 100%." Makhachev echoed this sentiment, saying "Just lose or win, you know. After like one year, nobody cares what happened, [whether] you were injured or sick or something happened."
Despite Pereira's subsequent knockout victory over Ankalaev at UFC 320 to reclaim the light heavyweight title, Makhachev remains confident in his own abilities. In fact, Abdelaziz has previously stated that he believes Makhachev can dethrone the reigning champion, Pereira. While Makhachev acknowledged the size difference, he jokingly said he would need "the 'DC' [Daniel Cormier] diet programme to be 200 pounds" to take on 'Poatan' at 205 pounds.
