Dricus du Plessis hails Magomed Ankalaev's team gameplan as he reacts to clip highlighting the Russian's striking against Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira's loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 came as a shock to many, largely due to the amount of success the Russian experienced while striking. This drew the attention of UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, who took to his Instagram story to share his thoughts on the matter.

In fact, he praised Ankalaev for his approach to the striking department in his clash with Pereira. After stumbling upon a clip showcasing Ankalaev's success against Pereira, du Plessis shared it on his Instagram story, where he tagged Ankalaev with the following statement:

"The gameplan was on point well done team @ankalaev_magomed"

A screenshot of Dricus du Plessis' Instagram story about Alex Pereira vs. Magomed Ankalaev

The unanimous decision win at UFC 313 won Ankalaev the light heavyweight title, and it was one of his most surgical performances. In a southpaw versus orthodox battle, the Dagestani wrestler proved to be a far more competent striker than expected, paying mind to Pereira's tendencies.

The Brazilian star often uses his lead hand to hand-fight against southpaws, trapping their lead hand with his own to stop them from gauging the distance. Moreover, he deliberately creates a gap in his guard, coaxing southpaws to throw left straights down the pipe, all so he can slip and counter it with a left hook.

This is the approach he took against Jamahal Hill, who he knocked out at UFC 300. However, against Ankalaev, the strategy fell flat, as Ankalaev was the one hand-trapping Pereira's lead hand, while punishing him with low kicks, eventually creating openings for a thunderous left straight that wobbled him badly.

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Alex Pereira and Dricus du Plessis used to chirp at each other

There was a time when Alex Pereira expressed an interest in returning to middleweight, where he had a brief stint as the division's champion. This meant facing Dricus du Plessis, who seemed less than interested in fighting a depleted version of Pereira, who would have been drained by the massive weight cut.

"@AlexPereiraUFC you and your boyfriend @SStricklandMMA can have a domestic dispute on who gets slept first"

This led to a back-and-forth between the pair, with Pereira accusing du Plessis of not being a serious fighter. The South African star, though, explained that he would much rather fight Pereira at light heavyweight, which 'Poatan' later seemed open to.