5 questions that could be answered in a rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira

This weekend at UFC 313, a new light-heavyweight champion was crowned. Magomed Ankalaev dethroned Alex Pereira in what was a sizeable upset.

It's likely that Ankalaev and Pereira will now head for a rematch, so hopefully, some of the questions thrown up by this weekend's fight can be answered.

Despite Ankalaev's win, it's fair to say that there's more to settle between the two, so hopefully it's a fight we can see again in the near future. With that in mind, here are five questions that could be answered in a rematch between Magomed Ankalaev and Alex Pereira.

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#5. Was Alex Pereira's gun-shy approach down to the punch he ate in the second round?

One takeaway from this weekend's fight was the fact that, particularly in the later rounds, Alex Pereira looked curiously gun-shy.

There are a couple of trains of thought around the reason for this, but one is that 'Poatan' never fully recovered from eating the big left hand that stunned him late in the second round. After all, the first round saw him do some excellent work with his low kicks, and at that point, he appeared to be getting the better of Magomed Ankalaev.

If the punch was to blame for his approach, then Pereira would join the likes of his great rival Israel Adesanya in the list of fighters who simply never recovered from getting their bell rung early in a fight despite not being KO'd.

However, there's also an argument that Ankalaev simply sapped Pereira's energy with his clinch-heavy pressure approach, meaning he never got comfortable enough to truly open up.

Assuming 'Poatan' can avoid being rocked early in a rematch, then, the question of his gun-shy approach should definitely be answered.

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#4. Can Magomed Ankalaev get his takedown game going?

Coming into UFC 313, some observers suggested that Magomed Ankalaev's strong wrestling might make him kryptonite for Alex Pereira and his striking-based approach.

While Ankalaev won, though, his victory certainly didn't come due to his takedowns.

Remarkably, the Dagestani attempted 12 takedowns and was unable to get the fight to the ground once, with Alex Pereira defending each successfully.

In a rematch, then, Ankalaev may look to change his approach to this in order to get his takedown game going. The most likely approach he could look to do would be to hunt for single-leg takedowns or trips from the clinch, rather than simply attempting to muscle 'Poatan' down.

However he does it, though, if he can be more successful in that area in the rematch, he'll be confident of a win.

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#3. Will Alex Pereira make the right adjustments to make his left hook work against a southpaw opponent?

When Alex Pereira defeated Khalil Rountree Jr. to defend his light-heavyweight title back in October, it was arguable that 'The War Horse' gave him a tougher test than many expected.

Rountree landed 61 significant strikes in that fight, more than any of Pereira's other opponents outside of Israel Adesanya.

That was, of course, until this weekend's bout, when Magomed Ankalaev landed 94 such strikes on 'Poatan'.

So what made Rountree and Ankalaev so difficult for Alex Pereira to deal with? One theory might be that they both fight out of a southpaw stance, something 'Poatan' has rarely faced in the UFC.

Given that Pereira's primary weapon is his coffin nail left hook, there could definitely be an argument that it's harder to land the shot on a southpaw, and trying to do so opens up the counter.

That wasn't the case, admittedly, against another southpaw in Jamahal Hill, but it's also fair to say that 'Sweet Dreams' left himself wide open after Pereira shrugged off an eye poke.

Essentially, then, if Pereira wants to reclaim his title in a prospective rematch with the Dagestani, he will have to find a way to make his big strikes work against a southpaw. It's something we've yet to see him do.

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#2. Will Magomed Ankalaev now have less respect for Alex Pereira's offensive arsenal?

While Magomed Ankalaev realised his goal of becoming the UFC light-heavyweight champion this weekend, Alex Pereira definitely didn't make it easy for him.

'Poatan' chopped at him with low kicks in the first round to great effect, and despite looking gun-shy in the later stages of the fight, he still caught Ankalaev with 76 significant strikes.

Most notably, Pereira cracked the Dagestani with a pair of sharp head kicks in the final round that clearly gave him some food for thought.

At no point, though, did Ankalaev look truly hurt or rocked. The question going into a rematch, then, will be whether this will make the Dagestani respect Pereira's striking power less.

If his respect - and potentially fear - is lost, then Ankalaev may well open up a little more in his own right, looking to clinch less. Arguably, this could make for a better fight.

However, it'd also be a risky approach. As we've seen so many times before, Pereira only needs one clean shot to turn the lights out on an opponent. Ankalaev would do well to remember that, rather than believe that based on this weekend, 'Poatan' cannot really hurt him.

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#1. How will the post-fight reaction to Magomed Ankalaev's clinch-based approach play out?

One thing that has been notable in the aftermath of UFC 313 is the backlash of sorts to Magomed Ankalaev's use of the clinch.

In his post-fight interview, while Alex Pereira did praise his foe for putting him under pressure, he also claimed that the Dagestani held him against the cage and didn't do much with the position.

This viewpoint is one that seems to be shared by plenty of fans online, with some even claiming Pereira deserved the win. Whether that's true or not is debatable. It could be that Ankalaev smartly used a clinch-heavy approach to wear Pereira down and nullify his punching power, as Georges St-Pierre famously did against BJ Penn.

Either way, though, the big question coming into the possible rematch will be how this backlash to the clinch is handled by the referee in particular.

If the fans are quick to boo the position and the referee has made a prior judgment to that style of fighting, we could see a number of quick separations called.

If that's the case, of course, then the fight could well favor Alex Pereira.

There's always the chance too, of course, that 'Poatan' finds a way to combat the clinch in his own right. Based on all the noise around it, though, Ankalaev should probably prepare to be unable to rely on the position quite so much in a rematch.