Alex Pereira’s blazé attitude towards guests backstage at UFC 313 last night could have cost him his world title.
The sunshine-heavyweight champion was paid a visit by Mark Zuckerberg just moments before making the walk for his showdown with Magomed Ankalaev. Once photos got out of the exchange, fans immediately began to theorise that Pereira had been struck by the ‘Zuckerberg curse’.
There’s a theory in MMA that meeting with Zuckerberg before a fight could cause an otherwise dominant world champion to lose their belt. And lo-and-behold ‘Poatan’ suffered his first defeat since moving as much as light-heavyweight.
Alex Pereira’s pre-fight visit from Mark Zuckerberg could have been ‘cursed’
Fans immediately began to specific their concerns last night when the UFC Espana account shared a photograph of Alex Pereira being joined backstage by Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta boss is an enormous fight fan, and has even competed in jiu-jitsu with a watch to eventually having a fight.
Nonetheless, his luck relating to supporting fighters has not been great, with fans theorising that his backing comes with a ‘Zuckerberg curse’. He famously trained and took photos with Israel Adesanya and Alexander Volkanovski in the summertime of 2023.
Inside moths of those sessions, each men had lost their world titles at middleweight and featherweight respectively. Since then, neither Adesanya or Volkanovski who were once completely dominant, have won a fight.
After the fight last night, fans immediately began to reshare the photo and recall that his record with fighters just isn’t good. “It’s hilarious that each time Zuckerberg picks a UFC fight, they lose,” one user wrote alongside photos showing the Meta boss with Volkanovski, Pereira and Mackenzie Dern.
Rapper Drake holds the same ‘curse’ for fighters
Mark Zuckerberg isn’t the one celebrity known for having a curse relating to the UFC. Rapper Drake also is understood to all but guarantee a defeat for anybody whom he backs to win contained in the octagon or the boxing ring.
He is understood for putting massive money bets on fights, but almost at all times losing relating to the UFC or boxing. Drake famously bet on Mike Tyson to beat Jake Paul back in November, and posed for a photograph with Conor McGregor before his fight with Floyd Mayweather.
He also bet on Israel Adesanya to beat Sean Strickland in one among the primary fights that began the ‘Zuckerberg curse’. He put $950,000 on the champio to retain his belt.
