Chael Sonnen isn’t buying what Alex Pereira is selling.
The defending UFC Light Heavyweight Champion has been teasing a move back down to the middleweight division, where he once reigned as champ before being outdone by Israel Adesanya in their rematch last year. Pereira’s made a new life for himself at 205lbs but the days of tough weight cuts to 185lbs could come again as Pereira has expressed interest in a super-fight with current champ Dricus du Plessis.
Du Plessis just defended Pereira’s once-held middleweight title against common foe Adesanya in the main event of UFC 305 last month. It wouldn’t take long for Pereira to call out du Plessis, who in return mocked “Poatan” for his previous KO loss to Adesanya, bragging about his win over “Contender Izzy” – the man he couldn’t beat the last time around.
Du Plessis vs. Pereira? “Never Going To Happen,” Says Sonnen
So, just how serious is Pereira about a middleweight move against du Plessis? Boasting about it ahead of a title defense against Khalil Rountree Jr at UFC 307 next month, Sonnen thinks it’s all a bluff with an underlying message from the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
“In this sport, it’s very clear that bigger is better,” Sonnen said on Good Guy / Bad Guy. “The heavyweights are better than anybody else and and the in between. That is just the perception. Like, if you’re seeking a championship and you could have it at 205, 185 is beneath you. And not to mention, DDP [du Plessis] could have laughed this off and said, wait a minute. You’re telling me the guy that got knocked out by the guy I just finished in the third round is threatening to come back to a division that he already ran away from? Come on down.
“I mean, because, no, this is never going to happen,” the UFC fighter-turned-analyst said of du Plessis vs. Pereira.
Sonnen Calls Pereira’s Middleweight Promo “Not Sincere” And “Condescending” To Adesanya
More than a way to make some waves on the Internet, Sonnen believes Pereira’s grand challenge to du Plessis was to actually “big brother” his longtime kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya, claiming Pereira can no longer make championship weight at 185lbs.
“Alex was not sincere,” Sonnen went on. “He is sincerely tough, and he will fight anybody. But, he can’t make 185lbs. There’s nothing to gain there, by the way, to return and go through that kind of sacrifice, to return to a weight that you’ve already won. If you wanted to fight Dricus, Dricus could come up [to light heavyweight]. But make sure you don’t miss the play here. Alex is tough, and he will fight anybody, but the play here was a final nail in the coffin of his rivalry with Adesanya.
“This was a big brother play,” Sonnen argued. “This was to be condescending. This was to say, you couldn’t deal with [DDP], big brother’s got your back. Big brother’s got you. That was the actual move, and I think it worked.”
Alex Pereira is 3-1 over Israel Adesanya in their combat sports quadrilogy with “The Last Stylebender” finally getting a win over Pereira in their last encounter at UFC 287.
Was Alex Pereira’s middleweight tease for real or a subtle jab to Israel Adesanya as Chael Sonnen suggested?
