Israel Adesanya isn’t quite sure his old rival deserved to come out on the wrong side of the judges’ scorecards on Saturday night.

Alex Pereira was defeated by the newly-crowned light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev in the UFC 313 headliner from Las Vegas, as Pereira struggled to impose his feared striking game amid a consistent takedown threat offered by the Russian throughout.

But according to the only other fighter to hold a win over Pereira inside the UFC cage, the Brazilian was unlucky to not have his hand raised once the 25-minutes elapsed.

“I had Alex winning but I’m not sure,” Adesanya said in a video posted to his official YouTube channel.

“I’d have to watch it again and score the fight properly. The round two might have played a factor just because he dropped him but then holding against the fence I don’t really remember him getting any takedowns,” he added. Ankalaev did manage to control Pereira against the fence for portions of the fight but was unsuccessful on all 12 of his official takedown attempts, per the official stats.

UFC boss Dana White has suggested that a rematch between Pereira and Ankalaev will take place sooner rather than later, and Adesanya says he is expecting to see both fighters improve their strategies after spending five rounds in the cage with one another.

“It was a competitive fight back-and-forth,” Adesanya told the camera. “They’re both going to level up and I’m sure he’s going to get a rematch. Spin the block.”