You have this impression. You don't know. What in Tom makes you think he's a super fighter? His striking isn't as technical, as he tends to go in linear blitzes while leaving his defense open. See the punch he hit Sergei with. Same pattern as the counter intuitive punch Hill tried to get on Pereira, missed and was KO'd by a left hook. Except that Sergei Pavlovich didn't have the same reading Pereira had. The counter left hook that dropped Jiri —> similar pattern as Tom stroking quickly while leaving himself defensively open. You think he's quick because HWs aren't that quick, but in reality, stats have his punching speed the same as Hill and Jiri Prochazka. Ankalaev has more speed than the three of them. And is more technical. Tom rushes which is counter productive for someone like Pereira, who loves that rush without a very strong defense... Not for nothing Curtis tagged him twice with jabs, and Curtis isn't nearly as quick as strong as Pereira.
He faced a better grappler than Tom. You saying Ankalaev isn't as good of a grappler as Tom is madness. Ankalaev trained Sambo for 20 years. Tom is a jiujitsu black belt and has more experience in ground defense, not on takedowns. That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to grapple, but to compare him to Ankalaev is being obtuse. Sorry. Tom himself said that Ankalaev's grappling is "amazing. He's someone who has been wrestling his whole life. Just this chain wrestling shows how elite he is" —> see his reaction to Pereira vs Ankalaev... Tom has not a grappling / wrestling basis, he said so. He said he's improving his grappling. In fact, he couldn't take down Craig Jones at all in their sparring. Sure they Craig Jones is a good grappler but way lighter than him. Just look at Ankalaev's grappling sessions footage... He takes down huge guys with basically no effort.
Ankalaev has elite striking AND grappling. His striking isn't as good as Pereira's and Pereira's grappling isn't as good as Ankalaev's... That's why they're so evenly matched up and I expect the 2nd fight to be another grind fight but I think Pereira gets this one. But to say Ankalaev isn't a good grappler like Tom is just being obtuse, sorry.
