Kamaru Usman and Henry Cejudo have ventured into the podcast realm with much success with their combat sports takes. Subsequently, no other topic is as red-hot as Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira right now. In their latest discussion pool, Usman doubled down on why he does not consider Pereira a top pound-for-pound fighter.
Pereira recently won his second defense of the gold at UFC 303. With his jaw-dropping stoppage, the Brazilian knockout artist treads ahead as ranked 2 in the P4P rankings. Many fans and pundits believe it should be higher, with acquiring a title defense on short notice and frequent appearances. Nevertheless, the ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ disagrees.
Yes, you can stand and knock everybody out. Guys who aren’t moving, guys who aren’t shooting on you, guys who aren’t testing your grappling, yes. But that doesn’t mean you’re number one pound-for-pound. So, don’t be upset about that, don’t be but*hurt about it. If anything, show me you’re pound-for-pound. Go out there, take the next guy down.
Kamaru Usman via the “Pound 4 Pound with Kamaru Usman & Henry Cejudo” Podcast
This comes on the heels of coach Plinio Cruz and Team Teixeira MMA & Fitness advising him to reel in the tempo. Alex Pereira has been a brand value champion. He delivered at Arpil’s milestone pay-per-view event without a stretched-out camp. Then, ‘Poatan’ starched Jiri Prochazka at the 0.13 mark of R2 in their short-notice rematch at UFC 303. After the blistering second-round TKO, he wants in on UFC 305 next.
Kamaru Usman doubles down on his comments about Alex Pereira not being high up on his pound-for-pound list:
“Yes you can stand and knock everybody out… but that doesn’t mean you’re #1 pound-for-pound… don’t be butt hurt about it.
If anything, show me you’re pound-for-pound.… pic.twitter.com/hexMIJNsIH
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) July 11, 2024
Right now, Pereira has more title matches than non-title appearances. He has defeated multiple former champs on the way to his reign. Nevertheless, Kamaru Usman believes ‘Poatan’ needs more of a well-rounded skillset than just knocking out stationary fighters. While he has stopped all but one of his 205lbs opponents, none were on the ground. Consequently, Usman isn’t the only one who thinks so.
Kamaru Usman is not the only fighter to doubt Alex Pereira
Light-heavyweight Anthony Smith often faces flak for theorizing his “on paper” mettle to be similar to Alex Pereira. Sounds familiar? Magomed Ankalaev, Jamahal Hill, and even Prochazka all said the same. Thus far, this has proven very untrue.
Anthony Smith; Alex Pereira (Source: IMAGO/thespun.com)As a result, Pereira has had an unprecedented rise in popularity. Including his two-division championship status and defeating five different UFC champions, ‘Poatan’ has also delivered some entertaining scraps in short periods. However, Smith isn’t entirely wrong. Like former Pound-for-pound king Kamaru Usman, former title challenger Smith sees holes in his game. Said holes have proven true so far.
Israel Adesanya had success against Pereira in their first MMA fight. Adesanya landed a takedown and controlled Pereira for quite some time. The same can be said about Jan Blachowicz when he faced Pereira at UFC 291. The Polish fighter immediately went for the takedown and found success. Prochazka also had some initial success against him during their first bout at UFC 295 last year.
Anthony Smith has billed him as a less effective fighter at light heavyweight due to his overt use of just his standup game. Smith even thinks he can utilize the grappling and choke ‘Poatan’ out. As such, it is not just Kamaru Usman who has critiqued Pereira’s lack of grappling.
