UFC 313 takeaways: Pereira lost the title, still holds the keys - ESPN

Alex Pereira suffered only the third loss of his career, and first in his last six fights — a unanimous decision against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 on Saturday. But with his future potentially at heavyweight, does this loss really matter?

Justin Gaethje revived his career with a unanimous decision victory over Rafael Fiziev in the co-main event. It was a rematch of Gaethje's majority decision victory two years ago at UFC 286 and showed that «The Highlight» still has something to offer, but will he ever win a championship?

In the opening fight of the PPV card, Mauricio Ruffy made a little bit of history with his wheel kick knockout of King Green, and a title fight could be in the cards as soon as next year if he continues winning.

Brett Okamoto and Andreas Hale share their thoughts on these fights.

I know, it feels like a very, very big deal — for good reason. This was ESPN's 2024 Fighter of the Year. He's one of the biggest stars on the UFC roster, and he has been one of their most reliable champions. When the UFC was in a bind last year, and it certainly happened more than once, Pereira answered the call and did so spectacularly. Pereira losing, to a challenger who isn't a household name, feels large.

But what Pereira gets from this is something he needs, something he tends to refuse to take. He needs a break. Time is not on his side in terms of how many more fights he has on him, so he needs to make them count. Take a breather. He just appeared in five title fights in less than 500 days. Let him take a break… and in the meantime, let's see what happens at heavyweight with Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall.

Whoever wins that massive fight will call out Pereira. I guarantee it. And even if the public's last memory of