Álex Poatan applies a kick to Magomed Ankalayev. Photo: Reproduction/X/UFC Europe
the performance of Alex Poatán in the defeat and consequent loss of the belt to Magomed Ankalayev in the main fight of UFC 313, last Saturday (8), negatively surprised many fans, who were dissatisfied with the lack of aggressiveness shown by the Brazilian in the fight. Coach of the legend Georges St-Pierre, Firas Zahabi, however, argues that such passivity was forced by the Russian's merit.
In a video published on his official YouTube channel, the legendary coach analyzed the fight, stated that he agreed with the final result and highlighted the fact that Ankalaev had overcome Poatan precisely where the Brazilian is strongest.
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“It wasn’t the most exciting fight, but what’s amazing is: Ankalaev dominated him the entire fight. The entire fight was on the feet and Ankalaev won. If you put the two of them in a kickboxing match, I think we can all agree that Pereira would win. Pereira wasn’t throwing any punches, even though his corner was begging him between rounds, he was hesitant,” he said.
In Zahabi's opinion, the justification for Poatan's passivity is the combination of his concern regarding the grappling fight and the fact that he was surprised standing up in the second round. According to the coach, the Brazilian 'froze' because he needed to think twice before taking any action.
“I have an idea why he hesitated. First, he was worried about takedowns. He didn’t want to get knocked down. That was on his mind when he was rocked. Then he had to worry about striking and taking downs. It was too much. He had to think twice before throwing any punches. He was paralyzed by analysis. He was trying to predict what Ankalaeev would do, but Ankalaeev was more unpredictable than Pereira. With Poatan, we all knew what was coming: the low kick, the knee, the left hook,” he concluded.
