Chris Weidman is here to address the elephant in the room and that’s Alex Pereira’s wrestling (or lack thereof).
The hard-hitting Brazilian punched his way to not only capturing the title, but defending it as well against former title holders in Jiri Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, who both relinquished gold due to injuries. Pereira removed any doubt that he was just a “steward on the throne” with a first-round knockout of Hill at UFC 300.
While there’s no questioning who the real UFC Light Heavyweight Champion of the world is, you have to wonder just how complete of a fighter ‘Poatan’ actually is. Pereira comes from a kickboxing background and has faced mainly strikers in his UFC crossover, with a sole defeat coming to equally-talented striker Israel Adesanya.
Why It’s Difficult For Weidman To ‘Get Fully Behind’ Pereira
We have seen Pereira taken down before by fighters such as Jiri Prochazka and Jan Blachowicz, but not to enough avail as Pereira beat the both of them. Still, Weidman can’t help but think about Pereira’s kryptonite in the grappling department, especially after UFC commentator Daniel Cormier pointed out the champ simply ‘can’t wrestle’.
“I saw Cormier say this too, and I agree. It’s hard for me to get fully behind Pereira because I do see such an opening with the wrestling, and he hasn’t really fought wrestlers,” Weidman said on the ‘Believe You Me Podcast‘. “It’s hard to deal with. It’s almost so crazy, and it’s such a deficiency based on what we’ve seen so far.”
Quote: Pereira “Kind Of The Opposite” Of Ben Askren
Weidman would go on to liken Pereira’s ‘deficiency’ in the ground game to former UFC star Ben Askren’s stand-up.
Askren went undefeated for 10 years thanks to his insane wrestling credentials that were too much for anyone to handle. But, the chink in Askren’s armor was undoubtedly his striking, which was ultimately exposed in his short UFC run against Robbie Lawler, Demian Maia and most notably Jorge Masvidal, who knocked him out with a flying knee for the fastest KO in UFC history.
“It’s almost like Ben Askren coming into the UFC and being able to just become a multiple time champion with no hands, it’s like a striker looking at Ben Askren and thinking, how the hell is this guy, the world champion?” Weidman said. “He was able to do it in Bellator. He was able to do it in ONE… the guy had an unbelievable MMA career, and he had no striking at all. It looked awful, but he was so good at wrestling, he was able to do it.
“[Pereira] is kind of the opposite. I would almost say he’s as bad [at wrestling] as– Ben Askren is with striking. This guy may go down as one of the best fighters of all time. It’s just weird. It is weird to see.”
Chris Weidman compares Alex Pereira’s wrestling “deficiency” to Ben Askren’s striking:
“It’s hard for me to get fully behind Pereira, because I do see such an opening with the wrestling.
It’s almost like Ben Askren coming into the UFC and being able to just become a multiple… pic.twitter.com/pLXHHGXxa9
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) April 24, 2024
Signed to the UFC in 2021, Alex Pereira has captured belts in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions with his last five wins coming over former world champions. The 36 year-old isn’t done yet with his eyes on a potential jump to heavyweight.
Is “Poatan” the polar opposite of Ben Askren?
