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Alex Pereira entered the Octagon on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Arena with one clear intention: vengeance. Earlier this year at UFC 313, he suffered a unanimous decision loss to Magomed Ankalaev, and UFC 320 was his chance to right that wrong. When the bell rang, the 38-year-old wasted no time in doing exactly that.

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Pereira dropped Ankalaev with a thunderous right hook before finishing the job with a barrage of ground strikes, reclaiming the UFC light heavyweight title and ending Ankalaev’s 14-fight unbeaten streak. Regardless, the finish from ‘Poatan,’ which once got Jon Jones his first loss, left Paddy Pimblett stunned, as he shared his reaction on social media recently. 

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Paddy Pimblett fell in love with Alex Pereira’s elbows

“Look at the size of Pereira, it is crazy how he even made middleweight,” Pimblett said as the fight began. When Pereira initially took Ankalaev to the ground, ‘Paddy the Baddy’ felt the shots were “not finishing shots though.” However, as the Brazilian kickboxer started landing 12-to-6 elbows, with Ankalaev unable to properly defend himself, Pimblett was in utter shock.

“It’s over? Oh my god, it’s over already? Wow. That was fast,” Pimblett said. He questioned why Magomed Ankalaev didn’t try to move. He had anticipated an early stoppage, but he didn’t expect Ankalaev to “just [not] move, lad.” When the fight was declared in Alex Pereira’s favor, and the crowd at the arena erupted, Pimblett confessed, “The elbows were lovely.”

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The 30-year-old UFC star claimed, “I never even really reacted there.” However, he was happy about the outcome of the fight. He noted, “Better for the UFC that he’s champion, like definitely. More people are interested in and want to watch him fight than Ankalaev.” Regardless, you must be wondering, how did the same move from Jon Jones get him his first loss?

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Jon Jones’ only loss from Alex Pereira-esque 12-to-6 elbows

Back on December 5, 2009, Jon Jones’ sole loss came via disqualification against Matt Hamill. The then 22-year-old Jones was dominating Hamill from the outset, taking Hamill down early and controlling the grappling exchange, raining down ground-and-pound strikes. During this, Jones delivered several straight downward 12-to-6 elbows to Hamill’s head. 

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These strikes were ruled illegal under the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts at the time, resulting in Jones’ loss. Last year, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) eliminated the 12-to-6 elbows ban, retroactively legalizing such strikes. While Jones’ sole loss has not been overturned, Pereira was able to use it because of the rule change. 

It seems Jon Jones sparked the very conversation that led to the rule change allowing Alex Pereira to finish Magomed Ankalaev. But what’s your take on the 12-to-6 elbows?

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