Light-weight champion Islam Makhachev sits atop the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, however there’s rising quantity of people that consider mild heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira must be in that spot.
Pereira arrived within the UFC in late 2021 carrying a variety of recognition for his two kickboxing wins over then middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Three fights into his UFC profession, Pereira confronted Adesanya within the UFC 281 predominant occasion in November 2021. He had solely been within the group for a 12 months.
He stopped “The Final Stylebender” within the fifth spherical to seize the UFC middleweight crown. Adesanya would get his revenge within the rematch and Pereira moved as much as the sunshine heavyweight division after dropping the belt to “Izzy.”
Since transferring up a weight class, Pereira has been flawless. Within the UFC 307 predominant occasion, Pereira defended the 205 pound championship for the third time, defeating Khalil Rountree Jr. by knockout. In his ten fights contained in the octagon, Pereira captured two divisional titles and defended one 3 times.
Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman believes Pereira’s resume and ending capability is sufficient to warrant the Brazilian being ranked the highest pound-for-pound fighter.
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“I’ve to confess when, and this is part of being a person, you must admit while you really feel such as you’ve made an error,” Usman mentioned on the Pound for Pound podcast. “What I’ve come to is, I noticed I’ve been judging Alex Pereira based mostly on what I’d be judged at. There’s much more males that weigh, stroll round on this earth near 170 to 185 kilos.”
“I believe he’s pound-for-pound king due to the best way he’s capable of combat. Not the best way he’s capable of combat however the best way he’s capable of make his opponents combat and the best way he’s capable of get rid of his opponents. I like Islam and his skills, I believe Islam after all has extra instruments within the shed, however for what you must work with, Alex Pereira, I consider he’s the pound-for-pound.”
