Ariel Helwani’s Brutally Honest Reaction to Alex Pereira’s Loss at UFC 313

Veteran MMA journalist Ariel Helwani went viral in the wake of Alex Pereira’s defeat to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 on Saturday night. The challenger stunned the Brazilian by taking a unanimous decision victory at T-Mobile Arena to win the promotion’s light heavyweight title.

Pereira came into the fight on the back of three successful title defences, becoming one of the most popular active UFC fighters in the process. Although Ankalaev was unbeaten in 13 outings heading into the bout, his grappling-heavy approach had not won him many fans.

Moments after Ankalaev was announced as the victor, Helwani described the result as a ‘nightmare scenario’ for the UFC – and his explanation as to why was swiftly shared online by thousands of followers. The award-winning reporter has long spoken about the promotion’s need to create new stars. In that sense, Pereira’s defeat couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Alex Pereira & Magomed Ankalaev’s pro MMA records (as of 09/03/25)
	Alex Pereira	Magomed Ankalaev
Fights	15	23
Wins	12	20
Losses	3	1
Draws	0	1
No contests	0	1

Ariel Helwani Called Alex Pereira’s Defeat a Nightmare For UFC

The Brazilian star has headlined four pay-per-views in the last 12 months

“Make no mistake about it, this is a nightmare situation for the UFC. This furthers their star issue,” began Helwani.

“Props to Ankalaev, but Alex Pereira is arguably the most popular active fighter in the UFC. I stress active, because Conor McGregor, as long as he is still living and breathing, he is under contract and will always be the most popular.”

Helwani went on to say that Ankalaev “is nowhere near as popular as [Pereira], not even in the same stratosphere”. The loss of Pereira as a champion seemed to concern UFC CEO Dana White when he was shown the judges’ scorecards shortly before the result was made official. Dana certainly did not look happy when he realised that Helwani was no longer going to hold UFC gold.

Helwani’s declaration that Pereira is the most popular active fighter on the UFC roster is backed up by the fact that ‘Poatan’ has headlined three of the top 10 biggest shows the company has ever run in terms of ticket sales. Ankalaev, by comparison, doesn’t feature at all.

As Helwani mentioned, Conor McGregor hasn’t fought in nearly four years, while reigning UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones has only competed twice in five years.

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Popularity doesn’t mean much to Ankalaev though, who simply wanted to celebrate his accomplishment after the fight: “I can’t put it into words, it’s been such a long wait to reach my dream – the title on my waist.”

However, he still wasn’t completely satisfied with his performance, declaring: “I think I could have done a better job in the fight, but I’m happy I won.” That doesn’t bode well for Pereira’s chances in a rematch, which Dana White believes will “probably” happen next.

Whenever the return bout takes place, the UFC will be confident of drawing a big crowd and strong pay-per-view sales on the back of Pereira’s quest for revenge. If Ankalaev gets the job done again, though, it will likely not be a great result for the world’s leading MMA promotion at a time when it needs its stars to shine.