Is Alex Pereira the least well-rounded, most vulnerable UFC Champion ever?

[warriorfan808]

I really hope he takes his ground work seriously. It would be nice if he can silence his critics.

 

[Rationality]

The thread title poses an idiotic oversimplification. There have been many one-dimensional champs over the years, and there have been some pretty dominant champs who won with the same tools over and over. Bones Jones didn't exactly need to master jiu-jitsu jitsu to be dominant, Khabib chain wrestled pretty much everyone.

 

[moreorless87]

I agree. Alex is a big, strong guy but I think Khamzat at 185 without a big cut will be pretty strong himself, on top of being an extremely skilled grappler. Just can't see Alex holding off that onslaught right out of the gate.

He is different from most of the big names at MW in that he does actually carry a serious threat on the ground beyond just control and the impression I get is that Alex has focused a lot on "just stand up" style grappling defence which doesnt work as well against that kind of fighter.

Alex is a lot taller though and has looked quite good in the clinch so I'm not sure Khazmat can just take him down at will and standing I do think he's be in significant danger.

 

[Baptizia]

Carla Esparza was the weakest champion.
But it's wmma

 

[markantony20]

Been less than a week and we’re already saying he was never that good.

 

[TheGreatA]

He's a big, strong guy who so far has picked up the MMA game incredibly fast, so it wouldn't surprise me to see him develop a takedown defense/grappling game that's enough to neutralize most grapplers. It should be noted that the only reason he went to the ground with Adesanya is because he was trying to take Izzy down himself. In most cases he'd be 100% focusing on preventing the takedown, but I imagine that his whole training camp for the championship fight was focused on striking.

 

[Goutfather]

Either way I think it's completely ridiculous to say "Alex could beat the champ but not un-ranked Bo Nickal because Nickal wouldn't stand and bang with Alex". Bo Nickal has 3 fights against nobodies….

maybe it’s fair to favor pereira in that matchup, but he’s not much more experienced than bo nickal.

 

[OldBoy91]

i mean hes huge and he trains under glover, plus hes brazilian

hes gotta be at least decent off his back but hard to say without more data points

Did you watch the fight with Izzy? He absolutely is not decent off his back. He looks completely lost on the ground. Took Izzy down and still ended up on the bottom and had his back taken.

Again, Izzy did this to him. The same guy that showed laughable BJJ against Jan Blachowicz.

Lmao at people just giving Poatan the benefit of the doubt in regards to his grappling. Theres a reason the UFC have been so careful about his matchmaking.

 

[Hollywood Jack]

First off let me say I'm a fan of Alex Pereira and am very happy he won the fight on Saturday. I think Izzy got comfortable winning the first 3 rounds and then coasting the last 2 which got boring.

I think Alex and Izzy are very similar in the fact that they are both almost 1 dimensional, elite strikers who lack wrestling and ground fighting skills as seen in their fight. Almost any other ranked fighter who had Alex on the ground like Izzy did would have most likely finished him.

Even Anderson Silva who I thought was 2 dimensional, he had a solid but IMHO over-hyped ground game to go along with his elite striking. He still had some ground skills and was a black belt in BJJ I believe.

Don't bring up Brock Lesnar because he was 2 dimensional like Anderson, he had elite wrestling and a solid ground game/submission game. And Lesnar beat strikers in Carwin/Hunto, BJJ in Mir, and wrestling in Couture.


Someone on Twitter made a good point when they said Alex could beat the champ but not un-ranked Bo Nickal because Nickal wouldn't stand and bang with Alex, he'd go for the immediate takedown, most likely get it, and ground and pound Alex until he gassed him out or got the TKO victory.



I do think they will do an immediate Alex vs. Izzy rematch because they want to get as most money out of Alex as they can and if he fought someone who might wrestle next his reign as champ would be over quickly and at his age he's most likely not up for another title run even as easy as his most recent one was.


Alex and Izzy's rematch should be similar to the first fight because neither will have time to really improve on anything especially their wrestling which takes quite awhile to get good at. I do see Alex being more aggressive in the next fight out of the gate. I will say Alex almost being KO'd in the 1st round was probably the best thing for him because he discovered that he had to respect Izzy's power and didn't walk into a KO.



Is Alex Pereira the least well-rounded, 1 dimensional, most vulnerable UFC Champion ever?


And I don't mean go back to UFC 1 and point out how guys were 1 dimensional.

It's hard to say. Not sure why we can't bring up Brock either. Brock didn't like to train striking, didn't like to get hit, it was a MAJOR weakness for him.

Anyway, Alex seems to be advancing as a mixed martial artist rapidly. It seems like you have to finish him or he will finish you. A better/bigger/stronger grappler than Izzy may be able to make Alex tap/nap/snap within 25 minutes. But he's a nightmare for them on the feet and we'll see how good he is getting/staying there...

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

If the rematch with Izzy happens he will have time to rd out his game at least a little bit. If he has to fight somebody like Khamzat he is just too green and will probably always be green. Maybe he can improve enough to defend the wrestling of Vettori and Whittaker tho.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

no way. he just iced the reigning MW champ who practically cleared the division. sure, it was a good match up but still, i think he could turn into a Ngannou-esque type of fighter if he works on not getting taken down. he has the size and strength to do what Ngannou does to wrestlers at HW. his ground game sucks sure, but i don't think he's that easy to takedown just given how big he is.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Carla Esparza was the weakest champion.
But it's wmma

Carla Esparza can actually wrestle. Carla actually EARNED both her titleshots by beating legit contenders. She didn’t receive special treatment and handpicked match ups nor was she allowed to skip the line like Pereira

 

[Robbocop]

Royce Gracie was 100% pure bjj. Probably are tons more too from the early years of UFC. Dan Severn comes to mind.

 

[moreorless87]

To be honest though I think Alex is actually not that far from Izzy in his striking style, he's a bit less mobile but both of them are quite low volume fighters with accurate offence they don't over commit to so they don't leave themselves open for easy takedowns.

 

[Deleted member 579771]

First off let me say I'm a fan of Alex Pereira and am very happy he won the fight on Saturday. I think Izzy got comfortable winning the first 3 rounds and then coasting the last 2 which got boring.

I think Alex and Izzy are very similar in the fact that they are both almost 1 dimensional, elite strikers who lack wrestling and ground fighting skills as seen in their fight. Almost any other ranked fighter who had Alex on the ground like Izzy did would have most likely finished him.

Even Anderson Silva who I thought was 2 dimensional, he had a solid but IMHO over-hyped ground game to go along with his elite striking. He still had some ground skills and was a black belt in BJJ I believe.

Don't bring up Brock Lesnar because he was 2 dimensional like Anderson, he had elite wrestling and a solid ground game/submission game. And Lesnar beat strikers in Carwin/Hunto, BJJ in Mir, and wrestling in Couture.


Someone on Twitter made a good point when they said Alex could beat the champ but not un-ranked Bo Nickal because Nickal wouldn't stand and bang with Alex, he'd go for the immediate takedown, most likely get it, and ground and pound Alex until he gassed him out or got the TKO victory.



I do think they will do an immediate Alex vs. Izzy rematch because they want to get as most money out of Alex as they can and if he fought someone who might wrestle next his reign as champ would be over quickly and at his age he's most likely not up for another title run even as easy as his most recent one was.


Alex and Izzy's rematch should be similar to the first fight because neither will have time to really improve on anything especially their wrestling which takes quite awhile to get good at. I do see Alex being more aggressive in the next fight out of the gate. I will say Alex almost being KO'd in the 1st round was probably the best thing for him because he discovered that he had to respect Izzy's power and didn't walk into a KO.



Is Alex Pereira the least well-rounded, 1 dimensional, most vulnerable UFC Champion ever?


And I don't mean go back to UFC 1 and point out how guys were 1 dimensional.

Carla Esparza: "Am I nothing to you?"

 

[Baptizia]

Carla Esparza can actually wrestle. Carla actually EARNED both her titleshots by beating legit contenders. She didn’t receive special treatment and handpicked match ups nor was she allowed to skip the line like Pereira

Carla was one dimensional fighter. She was wrecked by Joanna, had no chance to fight on her rules. It was one of biggest UFC mismatches of all time.
Also, by 'legit' contenders you understand girls, who just created new division with Ultimate Fighter elimination? It's not any serious competition, common.

 

[You Will Vote For Dreyga]

Carla was one dimensional fighter. She was wrecked by Joanna, had no chance to fight on her rules. It was one of biggest UFC mismatches of all time.
Also, by 'legit' contenders you understand girls, who just created new division with Ultimate Fighter elimination? It's not any serious competition, common.

Legit contenders she worked her way back to the title. She has beaten most of the girls in the TOP 15. She has wins over TOP ranked WFLWs.

Pereira skipped over the whole divisions of hard match ups due to favoritism. He's never fought a legit wrestler/grappler. All of matches were carefully chosen to make sure that he'd win. He was given a shortened path to the title-- all to keep his weaknesses hidden. He the weakest champion we have had in long ass time.

Carla is an Atomweight fighting in the division up and still beating many of the larger girls. She earned her way to the title the hard way by putting together what at the time was the longest winstreak in the divion. She has beaten a shit ton of girls that were ranked at some point in their career. She has taken out half the SW roster I was really surprised to see all the names in her win column.

SHE DESERVES FAR MORE RESPECT THAN POATAN. SHE ACTUALLY DID THE WORK


Her list of win includes
Rose Namajuanas x2
Angela Hill
Jessica Penne
Tecia Torres
Alexa Grasso
Michelle Waterson
Marina Rodriguez
Yan Xiaonan
Nina Nunes
Maryna Moroz
Cynthia Calvillo
Virna Janiroba

 

[ServantofGOD]

He is more well rounded than Ngannou. Ngannou is just boxing with some knees and only recently added kicks. Yeah Ngannou has a submission and did learn to take people down and defend takedowns but Alex is a far more well rounded and accurate striker than Ngannou and is better in the clinch.

 

[Redando]

Pereira should grow his hair and beard. It makes him look more dangerous.

 

[Voodoo Dahl]

Most likely.