Brendan Schaub thinks Alex Pereira losing his title is an issue for the UFC.
Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) lost his light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) by unanimous decision on this past Saturday’s UFC 313 predominant event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Schaub scored Rounds 1, 3, and 5 for Pereira, but admits he thinks “he fought terribly.” He also thought UFC 313 was a terrible card, and that the promotion is in dire need of some stars.
“The UFC’s in some trouble, man,” Schaub said on his “The Fighter and The Kid” podcast. “Hey, name their big star. … Ankalaev? What number of pay-per-views is he selling? Two: His mom, his uncle – who else? Who do you would like? (Alexandre) Pantoja? 125? We don’t give a f*ck. 135? Who else have you ever got? Merab (Dvalishvili)? Nah, not happening. At middleweight, (Dricus Du Plessis) has a likelihood.”
Pereira may get a possibility to reclaim his title after UFC CEO Dana White said a direct rematch with Ankalaev might be next. Each Pereira and Ankalaev expect to run things back as well.
Outside of Pereira, Schaub named who he sees as the present biggest star within the promotion.
“(Islam) Makhachev might be their biggest star,” Schaub said. “Pereira remains to be their most pay-per-view guy, but Makhachev is the largest star pound-for-pound, and you already know, he’s exciting. He’s the one Dagestani that’s exciting.”
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