On a recent episode of Chael Sonnen’s podcast, the former MMA star explained how Alex Pereira can become the greatest fighter in UFC history.
Alex Pereira entered the UFC with the reputation of a silent assassin inside the octagon. He sports unprecedented power in his right hand and never has an ounce of fear written on his face.
Upon signing a contract with the UFC, Pereira notched three easy victories before locking horns with his former kickboxing foe — Israel Adesanya.
He knocked Adesanya out in the first matchup, transferring the UFC middleweight championship from Izzy to the 36-year-old. However, ‘The Last Stylebender’ would get the last laugh in their rematch by knocking Pereira out for the first time in his MMA career.
But ‘The Poatan’ didn’t take long to regain gold as he rattled off three more wins after moving up to the light heavyweight division.
That includes his dominant victory against Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, where Pereira knocked his opponent out with a sharp left hook mere minutes into the five-round championship bout.
Now, Pereira has his sights set on becoming the first three-division champion in UFC history. Chael Sonnen, a former MMA star, believes that accomplishing this feat would cement him as the greatest fighter ever.
“If I were 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 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. If he did that, we’re not having a conversation about who the GOAT is; we will just refer to him as the GOAT.
“I’m not saying that I think he could beat Tom Aspinall, but he would be the first person we’d go, ‘Yeah, give him a shot. He might be able to beat him.’”
That is quite the praise from Sonnen, but there is merit to what he’s saying. For the vast majority of UFC fighters, competing in three separate divisions is borderline impossible.
From a weight-cutting standpoint, it is brutal on a person’s body to fluctuate from weight class to weight class. It impacts stamina, speed, power, and overall durability when fighters push it to the extremes.
It’s also a completely different approach to fighting, depending on the weight class. Even if a fighter can add weight to their frame, there’s a difference between someone fighting at an unnatural weight vs. someone fighting at the peak weight.
It’s a grind to get even one title shot in your UFC career, let alone winning that match and etching your name in the history books as a champion forever.
Doing that in two separate divisions was nothing but a dream in the early days of the UFC. Of the hundreds of fighters to come through the promotion over the years, only nine have become champions in multiple divisions.
But not one of them has done it in three separate divisions. That would rival some of the greatest sports accomplishments of all time — not just in the UFC.
Sonnen’s assertion that Pereira would automatically become the UFC’s GOAT might take some fans aback, but if he becomes a three-division champion, it is hard to argue against it.
At the very least, Pereira would go from one of the best in his generation to one of the greatest of all time. That is what is at stake if he makes the jump to heavyweight and finds gold.
