Daniel Cormier wonders if anyone can stop Alex Pereira's reign as UFC light heavyweight champion.
Daniel Cormier wonders if anyone can stop Alex Pereira’s reign at light heavyweight.
Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) notched his second 205-pound title defense when he knocked out Jiri Prochazka (30-5-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) in their title-fight rematch this past Saturday at UFC 303 from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Cormier compares his own reign to that of Pereira, because Cormier had strong grapplers such as Jon Jones, Glover Teixeira, Phil Davis, and Ryan Bader at the top of his division. In the current top light heavyweight rankings, Cormier doesn’t see too much of a ground threat for Pereira.
“When I look at the light heavyweight landscape, look at the top five, he’s beaten on Jiri twice,” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “He’s beat Jamahal (Hill) who’s also in the top five.
“(Aleksandar) Rakic is a striker, (Jan) Blachowicz is a striker, Johnny Walker in a striker, Khalil Rountree is a striker. The only one that has any wrestling is (Magomed) Ankalaev, but Ankalaev isn’t technically a wrestler. He is a striker who has said he is going to knock Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira out.”
Ankalaev is confident he doesn’t need to resort to his wrestling to beat Pereira. But Cormier doesn’t like anyone’s chances on the feet vs. the knockout specialist.
“I look at this weight class right now, Chael, and I see no wrestlers,” Cormier added. “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? Because it feels if you’re forced to stand with him and strike with him, you really have no chance.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 303.
