- Chael Sonnen acknowledged Alex Pereira’s potential to be the MMA GOAT
- “The Bad Guy” is rooting for “Poatan” vs. Tom Aspinall
Chael Sonnen explained why Alex Pereira could be the rightful MMA GOAT once he becomes a three-weight champion and wants the Brazilian to face Tom Aspinall.
Chael sees Alex’s case for being the GOAT
Speaking on The Fighter and The Kid podcast, “The Bad Guy” painted the picture of how Pereira could be considered the MMA GOAT despite his lack of MMA fights on his resume. According to Sonnen, the fact that “Poatan” has beaten a lot of world champions and could be the heavyweight champion if the UFC allows him to move up, that could be enough to strengthen his case as the MMA’s GOAT.
“I look at Alex Pereira, that’s an amateur, he has an amateur’s record. He’s done it 12 times now he’s only done it eight in the Octagon but within those eight, he’s captured two world titles and he’s beaten five world champions and if I was to tell you that Alex Pereira, who’s never had a wrestling match, he’s never had a grappling match, he is not a black belt, is the greatest to have ever done it, you would roll your eyes but if he became ‘champ-champ-champ’ and he is the first person ever that could actually do it, we stand back and go, ‘He actually might be able to.’ If he did that, we’re not out having a conversation on who the GOAT is, we will just refer to him as the GOAT,” Sonnen explained.
“Think of how great George St-Pierre is but you know he won 70, 185, but none of us thought he could go up to 205… For example or Daniel Cormier, when he gets the heavyweight, the light heavyweight but we knew he couldn’t make the weight class of 185. It’s one of those things where a guy can only go so far,” he pointed out.
Chael thinks Pereira vs. Aspinall is for real
Sonnen also weighed in on the potential Aspinall vs. Pereira heavyweight showdown. For “The Bad Guy,” Pereira is serious about it and is not just being carried away with the success and hype he’s been getting.
Moreover, Sonnen thinks beating Aspinall could be the Brazilian’s ticket to reaching GOAT status.
“He really does want the Tom fight that wasn’t just like you know, he’s high on adrenaline. He tried to get the Tom fight at 300, remember he was putting out that that cryptic equation, 3 plus 30 equals 300. He really would do it and he’d be the first person where we’d stand back, and I’m not saying I think he could beat Tom, but he’d be the first person we go, ‘Yeah give him a shot, he might be able to beat him,” Sonnen said.
As of now, the UFC has yet to decided on Pereira’s plan to move up to heavyweight. However, UFC president Dana White already hinted at his disapproval of the Brazilian’s idea.
Watch the full podcast below:
