Magomed Ankalaev🇷🇺 (21-1-1) won the first fight by switching stances often to close distance while feinting and throwing teeps and kicks that Alex kept reacting to, which forced him to reset, lowering his output. Constantly applying pressure while cutting off the cage, initiating and contesting in the clinch, punishing linear retreats, and punishing naked leg kicks to prevent him from throwing his own is so essential to beating someone like Alex. Ank initiates the clinch off of catching kicks or by creating his own entries through his jab cross combos. He then acquires underhooks and collar ties to press opponents against the fence where he effectively uses his shoulders to keep them there reversing position if he has to so he can control leverage and disrupt balance simultaneously while looking to land elbows and knees to tire them and make singe leg, body lock, or trip takedowns easier. With all of that said I believe he can still work on his cardio, I didn't like that he was starting to be countered more in the later rounds, his striking defense in tight range, specifically for his lead leg as it was starting to build up later in the fight, and his tendency to settle for not transitioning in the clinch. Alex Pereira🇧🇷 (12-3) lost the first fight because he was too reactive to feints, retreated to much instead of following up on lands, allowed himself to be pressured and landed on in blitzes because of his lackluster footwork going backwards, exited linearly, had bad hand fighting, backed himself to the cage in the clinch instead of actually contesting, and arguably the biggest thing was his reliance on low kicks even once they were neutralized. People can cope and say he lost because he went into the fight hurt but if you watch the fight with an unbiased lens it's blatant that there are technical errors that NEED to be addressed or he will lose again. Poatan claims he'll have more pressure in the rematch, and I hope that isn't all he's going to adjust, hoping that will guarantee he catches Ank, because in that case, he may be finished himself. To win this fight Alex needs to neutralize Ank's pressure from southpaw engaging, establishing his jab, blasting hooks in the pocket, targeting the lead leg early, hand fighting, and most importantly circling away from shots instead of backing up and throwing kicks. He also needs to better prepare his cardio and properly use his frame for the clinch exchanges, theres no way that Glover shouldn't have him working underhooks, hip movement to disrupt balance, and escapes because just defending takedowns isn't enough. My pick is Ankalaev (RD2 TKO).