“I think it humanized him” – this is how UFC legend Matt Brown described Magomed Ankalaev‘s title-winning performance against Alex Pereria at UFC 313. As ‘Poatan’ dropped the light heavyweight title to the Russian star, his aura of invincibility took a serious hit. Everyone was scrambling to find answers to why the heavy-handed precision striker never really… struck. To some, the answer may even lie in the supernatural realm. Yep, we’re back to the ‘black magic’ discussions. Again.

Back when Alex Pereira came in to save UFC 303 on short notice and fight Jiri Prochazka, ‘Denisa’ accused ‘Poatan’ of using magic and witchcraft to win his fights. Things became heated and soon, the entire world began talking about the Brazilian’s involvement in shamanic rituals. His weigh-ins and face-offs while wearing the traditional paints and headgear from the Pataxo tribe didn’t help. Neither did Israel Adesanya’s supportive comments about Pereira’s ‘energy.’ However, Pereira always denied his involvement in such paranormal stuff. But the camera at UFC 313 happened to catch Pereira’s rituals from a different angle. 

During his walkouts, the former Glory Kickboxing star performs an act where he fires an imaginary arrow. But this time, one of Ankalaev’s cornermen, Magdi Amachov, happened to catch the arrow and throw it aside. Of course, the act looked as dramatic as it sounds. It did not take long for the visuals of this act to go viral on social media. Full Send MMA shared the visuals on Instagram and the caption to the post read, “[Magdi Amachov] with the snipe 🏹😂.”

However, the fighting community had a different thought. As soon as Full Send MMA shared the visuals from UFC 313 on Instagram, the fight fans took over the comments section to reveal their thoughts. And they blamed Amachov’s act as the reason why Alex Pereira faced defeat at the event. Let’s see what the fighting realm had to say.

Did Alex Pereira miss the mark twice at UFC 313?

Not to anyone’s surprise, several comments linked Alex Pereira’s defeat to his failed shamanic ritual. Netizens joked that the arrow was actually a part of the Brazilian’s alleged black magic practice. But Amachov rejected it all by catching the imaginary arrow shaft. One of the fans wrote, “Black Magic rejected.” Another fan commented, “Black magic arrow got dropped.” Some even thought the Russian light heavyweight champion’s cornerman did the impossible – “He broke the curse…..” Another fan added, “He ended spiritual warfare that night with the arrow crush lmao.”

Most of the fans claimed that it was the reason why Ankalaev won against the man with the hands of stone. One of the fans commented, “That’s the reason why Ankalaev won.” Another comment read, “Now we know why Ankalaev Won🤯.” But if Amachov never caught the arrow, would Ankalaev still have won the bout? The fight fans seemed to think so. A netizen commented, “That might’ve changed the result.”

But this wasn’t the first time such a thing happened inside the Octagon. At UFC 300, Jamahall Hill performed a similar act, where he caught the arrow and snapped it in two. Unfortunately for ‘Sweet Dreams’, he got knocked out with a strong fist from Alex Pereira in the first round. The fight fans took note of it and wrote, “Jamhal did this and got koed.” Nevertheless, watching Hill catch the arrow and break it was nothing short of a cinematic treat. And the same was true for Amachov. One fan wrote, “Jamal did this so beautifully…” Meanwhile, an unimpressed fan commented, “Okay that was pretty bad—.”

So, if the lore is to be believed, his arrow did not find its target, so Alex Pereira did not either. But coming to the actual fighting side of things, Firas Zahabi has a better analogy. “Paralysis by analysis” – that’s how the Tristar Gym head coach summed up Pereira’s performance.

“[Alex] Pereira was hesitant. After round one, he was hesitant. He got stunned in round one and ever since he got stunned, he was hesitant. Now I have my idea why I think he was hesitant. One, he was worried about the takedown. He didn’t want to get taken down. It was on his mind when he got stunned. Now he’s worried about the striking and the takedowns… It was too much. You have to think twice before he throws and it was like the famous saying paralysis by analysis. He was trying to predict what Ankalaev was going to do. Ankalaev was more unpredictable than Pereira,” Zahabi said on his YouTube channel.

What do you think of the act? Do you think the ritual had something to do with Alex Pereira’s defeat, or should the former light heavyweight champion have worked a bit harder for the win? Do you think he’ll make the adjustments that Zahabi suggested? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.