After the fallout of the UFC 303 main event, MMA cliques and enthusiasts have once again asked the same thing. Should Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira move up to the 265-pound division? He does have work left at his division, but not much in the way of that. Daniel Cormier is curious if anyone can stop Pereira’s reign at light heavyweight. Why? Because the Olympic wrestler sees a lack of his kind in the top bill.

Pereira notched his second 205-pound title defense this past weekend. He ran through Jiri Prochazka in their title rematch via head kick and pounding. With strong grapplers like Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira, Phil Davis, and Ryan Bader no longer in the top 10 like from ten years back, Cormier thinks the stage is set for ‘Poatan’ to have a long title reign. Or at least Cormier thinks no one beats Pereira if they don’t wrestle.

When I look at the light heavyweight landscape, look at the top five...I look at this weight class right now, Chael, and I see no wrestlers, ..I don’t see any wrestlers all the way to No. 10. No. 6 guy in the world is Nikita Krylov. If nobody wrestles this guy, Chael, how long can Alex Pereira reign at top of the division? 

Daniel Cormier via Good Guy/Bad Guy

This is the usual “Daniel Cormier” way of hyping up fighters, but ‘DC’ isn’t wrong on this one. During his years, the top 10 in the division primarily had wrestling or grappling bases. Alex Pereira is now 2-0 against Procahzka (a striker). Aleksandar Rakic, Jan Blachowicz and Jamahal Hill are strikers as well. Someone as good as Hill proved what happens in an all-striking standup game with ‘Poatan.’

Israel Adesanya is the only similar kickboxer with excellent spatial control and the ability to force it to the ground. Pereira is a sum total of 3-1 over ‘Stylebender’ in MMA and GLORY Kickboxing. Magomed Ankalaev, an atypical wrestler, is the only challenge to the 36-year-old. He even touts that he can mimic Pereira’s standup game and knock him. If no one resorts to wrestling, Pereira might just go unchecked.

With no one resorting to ground games, Alex Pereira does it himself

After April’s historic pay-per-view event, Glover Teixeira had gifted Alex Pereira an impromptu black belt. At the time, much was said about the decision to do so. After UFC 303, Judoka Kayla Harrison also gifted him with a yellow belt. Why? Because ‘Poatan’ is amping up his ground game.

During UFC 302’s Fight Week, Kayla Harrison visited Jenkinson’s Boardwalk at 300 Ocean Avenue, Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. On a tour with Alex Pereira and others, she’d later spar with the Brazilian and his coach, Plinho Cruz. After UFC 303, Pereira ascended from the beginner’s belt after Harrison wrapped the yellow belt around him.

These notions have positive changes on his part. Turns out he also learned a few grappling tricks from Demian Maia at the UFC PI, LV., Nevada. Four days out from his fight night, he got together with Maia (and Ian Garry later) for some tips and tricks. Check the whole discourse below, which he recently uploaded himself.

Unlike Daniel Cormier, those like Michael Bisping and Anthony Smith have postered his holes in the grapple as big targets. For a guy who got amped enough by Adesanya’s interview to become dual-division champ, it’s totally plausible that his feud with ‘Lionheart’ can make him more than a good grappler.

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