Jesse Holland is among the longest-tenured media professionals in the combat sports news space, covering MMA, professional wrestling and boxing on a full-time basis since early 2004.
Magomed Ankalaev defeated Alex Pereira atop the UFC 313 pay-per-view (PPV) event last Sat. night (March 8, 2025) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, putting an end to one of the most entertaining title runs in the history of mixed martial arts (MMA).
Judges Mike Bell, Derek Cleary, and Sal D'Amato scored the fight 49-46, 48-47, and 48-47 in favor of Ankalaev, who takes over as light heavyweight champion. It was a close contest (and a far cry from this scenario), but Ankalaev was able to outwork an exhausted "Poatan."
Even without five rounds of army crawling.
The changing of the guard will be a tough pill to swallow for UFC CEO Dana White, because this is prize fighting and Pereira -- owner of six post-fight performance bonuses -- was one of the few reliable champions White and Co. had at their disposal.
How often does Jon Jones fight?
The Brazilian, who also held gold at 185 pounds, jumped to the light heavyweight division back in summer 2023 and went on to compete six times in less than two years, with five of those contests serving as main event title fights (with four ending by way of knockout).
"He put some pressure in the second round, I felt some of his strikes, but putting me up against the cage, he didn't really do anything," Pereira told Joe Rogan after the fight. "We followed our strategy and we know he puts people against the fence and he plays that game. Giving him the win with a gamelan like that, it kind of incentivizes people to do that against people. People might say it's a boring style but when a guy gets a win doing that, it kinda makes people wanna do that too."
The visibly-frustrated Pereira doesn't plan on taking any extended time off.
"I'm gonna keep training, I feel good, I don't think I'm hurt in any way," the former champ added. "I'm gonna take a few days off, then get back to training. This is my life."
Silver lining? We get more CHAMA before the end of the year.
No question Ankalaev is a talented martial artist, but he's been known to turn in the occasional "dud" from time-to-time and dethroning Pereira may have cost the promotion a pair of potential money-making super fights in two separate divisions.