UFC 313: Five Things We Learned

UFC 313: Five Things We Learned

UFC 313 featured several important fights, including title fights, fighters returning from injuries, prospects looking to showcase their skills, and more. These scenarios left us with multiple telling lessons. Here are five of the biggest lessons we learned from UFC 313. 

Magomed Ankalaev Takes The Belt Without Grappling 

In the UFC 313 main event, Magomed Ankalaev earned a decision win over Alex Pereira. In a surprise to many, he managed to get his hand raised without having a high amount of grappling success. Instead, he used his striking and clinch control to get the job done. 

Anakalaev’s highest amount of success came in the second round. At the end of the round, he landed a nice combination that hurt Pereira; however, he was unable to end the fight as the round ended. 

Ankalaev’s success continued into the third and fourth rounds. In the third round, Ankalaev was pressuring Pereira while avoiding taking much damage. That forward pressure allowed him to be the fighter who landed better strikes. In addition, Ankalaev used cage control and knees to take the fourth round. 

This was a strong performance from Anakalev. In the striking exchanges, his forward pressure troubled Pereira. Plus, Ankalaev intelligently attacked and did not provide Pereira with opportunities to land counters. 

Surprisingly, Ankalaev did not commit to landing takedowns. Many of his takedown attempts were clinch throws and trips, which are much harder to land against Pereira than traditional wrestling takedowns that attack the hips and legs. Still, he managed to turn his clinch attempts into minutes of control time while also landing knees that helped tire Pereira. 

This was a strong performance from Ankalaev. The bout was not highly entertaining, but that fault can be distributed to both fighters. Still, Ankalaev showed a lot of the skills that will help make him a solid champion. 

Alex Pereira Fought Gun Shy 

In the UFC 313 main event, Pereira looked to be much more gun-shy than he is in most fights. The now-former champion was not as aggressive as he had been previously. 

Pereira did very little offensive work aside from throwing leg kicks. Pereira landed 76 of his 137 significant strike attempts, according to UFC Stats. The issue is that he went 11 for 57 on head strikes. Ankalaev did not land an absurd number of head strikes, but he still outlanded Pereira as he finished 36 of 112. 

It was interesting that Pereira never aggressively got on the front foot. His power forced opponents to respect his shots. If he threw more volume, he could have prevented Ankalaev from being the pressuring fighter. At a minimum, he could have attempted to establish his jab. That never happened, either. 

Regardless of the reason for Pereira’s performance, it was not an ideal game plan for any fighter to win a fight, let alone one with his skill set. 

Justin Gaethje Bounces Back From KO Loss

At UFC 313, Justin Gaethje was in one of the most important fights of his career. The 36-year-old was returning from a brutal knockout. Despite that, he showed minimal regression and picked up a win over a talented Rafael Fiziev. 

The biggest attribute that Gaethje showed in this fight is that his durability is still functional. That was undoubtedly the most important test to pass in this fight. 

Gaethje also showed a lot of the striking skills that he typically demonstrates. In the pocket, he was throwing powerful combinations and dropped Fiziev with an uppercut at one point. It was not a one-sided domination, but Gaethje showed he can still strike with the best strikers in the world. 

The Mauricio Ruffy Hype Train Grows 

At UFC 313, Mauricio Ruffy added a highlight reel knockout to his resume as he landed a spinning wheel kick knockout against King Green. 

Ruffy did an outstanding job of setting up his spinning wheel kick with a hook. Green reacted to the hook and Ruffy landed the kick on his temple. 

This victory is going to take Ruffy’s hype train to a new level. The 28-year-old is 3-0 in the UFC with two knockout victories. Plus, he is a part of the Fighting Nerds gym which is growing in popularity each time one of the fighters competes. 

Joshua Van Continues To Showcase Great Skills 

On the UFC 313 prelims, Joshua Van looked dominant as he defeated Rei Tsuruya. It was another example of Van’s high-level skill set. 

This fight was a test for Van. Tsuruya is a solid grappler with strong submission skills. Van cleanly passed the test. He defended 17 of Tsuruya’s 21 takedown attempts. On top of that, the takedowns he yielded only resulted in 3 minutes and 49 seconds of control time. This defensive grappling performance demonstrated he can compete against ranked grapplers.

Van has already proven he can compete at a high level despite only being 23 years old. This performance continues that trend.

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