UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is the biggest Brazilian superstar in all of MMA at the moment. Having essentially speedrun the UFC to become a two-division champion in only his seven fights in the promotion, the former kickboxer stands at the cusp of becoming possibly the first three-division champion of the division following heavyweight champion Jon Jones floating a possible bout against him.
A former two-division Glory kickboxing champion, ‘Poatan’s deadly (albeit unorthodox) striking is legendary and has seen him leave a trail of knocked-out opponents on his way to the top of the UFC. The one question that has dogged him constantly, however, is his grappling (or lack thereof). Even UFC commentator Joe Rogan has voiced concerns about ‘Poatan’s ground game.
Joe Rogan thinks Alex Pereira needs to fight an elite wrestler
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While Pereira may be the biggest Brazilian mixed martial artist in the world, Royce Gracie is the original Brazilian superstar, the winner of the very first UFC event back in 1993. His success against bigger men in the no-rules, no-holds-barred old-school UFC is what made BJJ so popular and led to the development of MMA as a sport.
And Gracie joined Joe Rogan on episode #156 of the JRE MMA Show, where they discussed something that is somewhat of a specialty for Gracie: grappling. To be more specific, the grappling abilities of Gracie’s compatriot Alex Pereira.
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Rogan told the BJJ maestro that he would be very interested in seeing what would happen if Pereira fought a world-class wrestler (which ‘Poatan’ has yet to do in his three-year UFC stint). He pointed out that since Pereira had earned a black belt in BJJ last month (following his UFC 300 victory over Jamahal Hill), and the champ’s coach (and friend) Glover Teixeira was waxing eloquent about ‘Poatan’s grappling, a fight against an elite grappler would answer any questions about Pereira’s grappling skills.
“With Pereira, I want to see what happens if he fights against, like an elite wrestler, or [a] really good [grappler] who is really good at takedowns, who knows Jiu-Jitsu, you know. And we haven’t seen that yet. But he trains a lot of grappling too. He’s just got his black belt from Glover from Glover, which is huge. Glover says he’s like very good on the ground,” Rogan told Gracie. We may be very close to getting the answer, as ‘Poatan’ has now issued a grappling challenge to Anthony Smith.
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Poatan ready to put his grappling to the test with $50k challenge
While it is currently unknown how good the former champion kickboxer is on the ground now, he is certainly (very) confident. The 205-pound has recently issued a challenge to #10 light heavyweight Anthony Smith, known for his ground game. The latter has repeatedly claimed that Pereira does not have a well-rounded game, and was good at only one thing- his striking.
Pereira apparently took great offense to this characterization of his grappling skills and has issued a $50k grappling challenge to the American, offering to start with ‘Lionheart’s hooks in him. And Smith has accepted Pereira’s challenge. This certainly would be one way to clear Rogan’s doubts about his ground game. And if Pereira is successful in his grappling match with the former title contender, despite the favorable terms he has given ‘Lionheart’, he will certainly have come a long way since someone took him to the ground.
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The last time an opponent chose to take Pereira to the ground was Jan Blachowicz at UFC 293, which was Pereira’s first foray at 205 pounds. In the very first round, the Pole took ‘Poatan’ to the ground, where the latter’s lack of skills on the ground was apparent to see, with Blachowicz having control for the entirety of the four minutes fifty seconds they were on the ground.
Since then, however, the Brazilian has earned a black belt in BJJ, and is so confident that he is willing to bet a BJJ expert $50k to fight and defeat him. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. And until Pereira proves his grappling, either on the mat against Smith or in the octagon, the questions will persist.
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