Alexander Volkanovski finds it hard to bet against Alex Pereira at UFC 313.
Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) defends his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev (20-1-1 MMA, 11-1-1 UFC) in Saturday’s main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews/Disney+, ESPN+).
Volkanovski thinks Pereira’s ground game will hold up, and that his diverse striking will pose problems for Ankalaev.
“He’s very dangerous because he puts the pressure on and he can flick stuff out untelegraphed and set things up offensively. And then on the counter, (he’s) very, very, very good on the counter,” Volkanovski said of Pereira on his YouTube channel. “(It’s a) hard, hard, hard fight for Ankalaev to stay on the feet. He’s going to want to take it down, he will try and take it down, he might get takedowns. Five rounds of them? Does beating up the leg a little bit, does Pereira just eventually find it? I think so. I think he’s going to be technically sound enough to not get submitted on the ground and that fight continues.