Alex Pereira earns "massive respect" from UFC legend for how he handled UFC 313 insider info revealed by Joe Rogan 

Alex Pereira's reign as the UFC light heavyweight kingpin ended at UFC 313, as he lost to Magomed Ankalaev. The Brazilian's output was noticeably limited in the bout, and Joe Rogan's recent claims about a hand injury and an illness, namely norovirus, have further added to the discourse surrounding the fight.

Pereira has now addressed Rogan's claims, and his response drew a positive reaction from UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping.

During his recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, he acknowledged that he had some issues going into the bout but doesn't regret taking the fight or opting against pulling out. He added that he won't divulge his injury issues as he doesn't want to take credit away from Ankalaev.

'Poatan' said via his coach and translator Plinio Cruz:

"I'm not trying to take credit from Ankalaev, many people have tried to do that kind of thing and I'm not this type of guy... My hand is fine, but it did affect a lot of things. I don't wanna use that as an excuse... One of the more complicated fight camps that has ever happened... I do not regret [fighting] because I've motivated a lot of people. Many times I pushed through things, I was able to overcome... Many times it worked, this time was not my moment."

Check out Alex Pereira's comments below:

Bisping, a former middleweight champion like Pereira, commended the fan favorite for not making excuses and choosing against sharing how compromised he was going into the Ankalaev fight. In a recent video posted to his YouTube channel, the Englishman said:

"Okay, so first and foremost — massive respect to Alex Pereira. Because if Joe Rogan came out and said it, he could have gone down that path and said, ‘Well, yeah, I didn’t want to say anything, but seeing as it’s out there now — yeah, that’s true.'"

He added:

"Sh*t goes wrong in fights, okay? But when it happens in the fight, a lot of the time, with the adrenaline, you don’t really feel it."

Check out Michael Bisping's comments below (2:49):

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Alex Pereira shuts down greasing allegations from Magomed Ankalaev's team

Alex Pereira's takedown defense was on-point against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313, as the bout didn't hit the mat even once. Ankalaev's coach, Sukhrab Magomedov, later accused Pereira of greasing his body, which made it difficult for the Russian to secure takedowns.

In his appearance on The Aerial Helwani Show, Pereira shrugged off these accusations, saying:

"The way that his coach is putting on this sounds to like he's trying to make an excuse, looking for a reason to justify the fact that he trained a guy to take me down, but the guy stuffed his takedown attempts like a champ. You messed up—you didn’t do what you were supposed to—and now you're trying to make excuses to justify it. Absolutely mind-boggling"

Check out Alex Pereira's comments below (10:05):