Alex Pereira admits reported hand injury dimished UFC 313 display: ‘It affected a lot of things’
Former two-weight champion, Alex Pereira has opened up on a reported hand fracture suffered ahead of his UFC 313 title fight loss earlier this month, claiming the setback “affected” a lot of his preparation for his grudge fight with Magomed Ankalaev.
Pereira, a former undisputed middleweight champion, lost his light heavyweight title earlier this month in a long-anticipated title pairing with surging Russian star, Ankalaev, finding himself on the wrong side of a controversial unanimous decision loss.
And in the time since, the Sao Paulo star has been heavily linked with an immediate rematch against the Makhackala native, who claims he has accepted an offer fielded by the organization to fight the former at an event in August.
However, over the weekend, reports from UFC color-commentator, Joe Rogan claimed that Alex Pereira had entered his title fight dealing with both a hand fracture, as well as a bout of norovirus.
Alex Pereira comments on rumors of hand injury pre-UFC 313
And addressing those claims during an interview with Ariel Helwani for Uncrowned this evening, Pereira admitted that while his hand is fine now, it “affected” much of his preparation for a UFC 313 comeback.
“My hand is fine, but it did affect a lot of things,” Alex Pereira said through his translator and coach, Plinio Cruz. “I don’t wanna make excuses… I don’t wanna use this as leverage for anything. This was one of the more complicated fight camps that has ever happened… But I do not regret fighting. Like I said, I’ve conquered a lot.”
However, despite claiming he accepted to fight Pereira as soon as August, newly-minted champion, Ankalaev claimed if the Brazilian was not ready for that date — he would instead take on the next available contender.
“Joe Rogan mentioned his team said that Alex (Pereira) fought with a broken hand and Norovirus, when fighters step in the cage nobody is 100%,” Magomed Ankalaev’s official X account posted. “I was offered a rematch with him in August and I said yes, but if he is not ready I will fight whoever is next it doesn’t matter.”
