Light-weight champion Islam Makhachev sits atop the UFC’s pound-for-pound rankings, however there’s rising quantity of people that imagine gentle heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira ought to be in that spot.
Pereira arrived within the UFC in late 2021 carrying numerous 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 fundamental occasion in November 2021. He had solely been within the group for a yr.
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 shedding the belt to “Izzy.”
Since shifting up a weight class, Pereira has been flawless. Within the UFC 307 fundamental 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 thrice.
Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman believes Pereira’s resume and ending skill 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 need to admit whenever you really feel such as you’ve made an error,” Usman stated on the Pound for Pound podcast. “What I’ve come to is, I spotted I’ve been judging Alex Pereira primarily based on what I might 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 way in which he’s in a position to combat. Not the way in which he’s in a position to combat however the way in which he’s in a position to make his opponents combat and the way in which he’s in a position to get rid of his opponents. I really like Islam and his talents, I believe Islam after all has extra instruments within the shed, however for what you need to work with, Alex Pereira, I imagine he’s the pound-for-pound.”
