Who were the “unfavorable” matches for Alex?

[Pequeño Corey]

To say that Alex received favorable matchmaking implies that there were unfavorable matches he was protected from. At MW specifically, who were they? Khamzat is really the only name I can think of, but given his alleged visa issues, injuries, Covid, Ramadan, etc. it can be hard getting him lined up for a fight.

Who else has the dominant grappling to expose Alex’s supposed deficiency on the ground? I believe his TDD and sub defense are better than he gets credit for, in addition to being massive for the weight class.

I think Alex was expedited more-so than he was protected. It could have been Marvin, Cannonier, Costa, or Hermannsen instead of Strickland, and I’m picking AP to beat any one of them.

 

[Safwan ibn Muattal]

Khamzat ducked Alex

 

[RemyR]

Khamzat: "I kill everybody! I become two division champ!"

Alex: kills everybody, actually becomes two division champ

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Khamzat ducked Alex

And Strickland LOL

 

[JKS]

According to Chris Weidman, it was Chris Weidman

 

[Hdfi]

Khamzat was competing at WW at the time, so no they didn't duck each other.

 

[ArtardFiesta]

chris weidman is asking for a title shot lol

 

[Aegon Spengler]

Since he came in a few years back, you might say Romero if he used his wrestling. But he doesn’t really do that

 

[wolffanghameha]

Jan. They could've given Poatan someone lower ranked with less wrestling like Walker or Oezdemir in July, held up the LHW title and then given him a Jiri title fight in November. I think most people thought he'd lose to Jan, just like Izzy did.

Edit: Nm, read TS. I'd say Whittaker, Chimaev, Hermansson, Gastelum, Brunson, Cannonier were unfavourable ones.

 

[TempleoftheDog]

Jan.

I did actually score that fight for Jan in real time. But the judges saw it differently.

Jan was a legit opponent (r3), with the reward being a LHW TS to the winner.

Then he beat an ex-UFC LHW champion that vacated due to injury.

 

[nostradumbass]

Probably Derek Bruson, Vettori, Dricus, Whittaker, and maybe Jack Hermansson would have been more interesting style matchups than the guys he fought. I don't really know who was ranked where and when a few years ago, but the UFC has become kind of a grappling wasteland for all the division above WW though, so the timing has worked really well for Pereira, and a path of favorable matchups didn't really require a lot of work on the UFC's part.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Since he came in a few years back, you might say Romero if he used his wrestling. But he doesn’t really do that

I’m starting to think that Ankalaev is in the same boat. He’s a mountain neckbeard guy who by birth should be a dominant grappler, but we’re just not seeing that in his fights. These guys like to bang and their wrestling ability is just a means to keep the fight standing.

 

[ElLunico]

He got a title shot off 3 wins against non wrestlers at MW.. Its easy to say he would have KO'ed guys like Brunson, Vettori now but the fact is he never had to go thru those type of fighters.

He got fast tracked to a title shot because of his history with Izzy and because Izzy cleaned out the division.

I don't see the UFC putting him against Ank. Sherdog used to complain about Izzy, O'malley, Conor not fighting wrestlers but then give Alex a pass.

 

[mraa1]

You named a few of them already. Hermannsen and Vettori would have been big tests for his grappling. Even Costa, if he decided to actually use his grappling instead of brawling, would have been a bigger test than Strickland. There are others as well. But fact is the dude only had, what, 3 fights before his title shot? Are people really arguing he didn't get fasttracked and subsequently sidestepped a lot of competition?

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Jan. They could've given Poatan someone lower ranked with less wrestling like Walker or Oezdemir in July, held up the LHW title and then given him a Jiri title fight in November. I think most people thought he'd lose to Jan, just like Izzy did.

Edit: Nm, read TS. I'd say Whittaker, Chimaev, Hermansson, Gastelum, Brunson, Cannonier were unfavourable ones.

You may be right, but we have to consider that Izzy beat all of these guys (except Jack) primarily in a standup affair. I think Alex is actually a better counter grappler than Izzy, plus he’s bigger. Look no further than their common opponent in Jan. It’s hard to see a world where any of those guys would be able to take down Alex and keep him there, or submit him. Jack clearly has submission ability, but he’s not the kind of fighter who would just relentlessly spam takedowns and try to force Alex against the cage. With the advantage of hindsight, I’d confidently pick Alex to beat Jack.

 

[blaseblase]

Top 10 mddleweights with wrestling:

Whittaker
Vettori
Hermansson
Brunson
Allen
Potentially Costa

Theres no question that the UFC handpicked Strickland as the most favorable opponent to get Pereira into the top 5. Without the Izzy rivalry he would have been thoroughly tested before getting a title shot.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

You named a few of them already. Hermannsen and Vettori would have been big tests for his grappling. Even Costa, if he decided to actually use his grappling instead of brawling, would have been a bigger test than Strickland. There are others as well. But fact is the dude only had, what, 3 fights before his title shot? Are people really arguing he didn't get fasttracked and subsequently sidestepped a lot of competition?

Read the OP sherbro. I’m acknowledging that he was fast tracked, but that’s not the same as “favorable matchmaking” or being protected. I’m arguing that there aren’t any guys at MW with this magic bullet skillset that would nullify Alex’s striking. Izzy ran through MW with a comparable, if not worse grappling game than Alex in addition to being smaller. MW just isn’t really all that stacked with dominant wrestlers. Swap out strickland with anyone else in the top ten and I’m picking AP to beat them all.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Top 10 mddleweights with wrestling:

Whittaker
Vettori
Hermansson
Brunson
Allen
Potentially Costa

Theres no question that the UFC handpicked Strickland as the most favorable opponent to get Pereira into the top 5.Without the Izzy rivalry he would have been thoroughly tested before getting a title shot.

Izzy was able to beat 4 of those guys with a comparable if not worse grappling ability than Alex, plus he’s smaller. What makes you so sure that any of these guys would be be able to dominate Poatan with grappling? Allen wasn’t ranked during Poatan’s run, but would you seriously pick him to win that hypothetical fight? Or Joker?

 

[Pequeño Corey]

You named a few of them already. Hermannsen and Vettori would have been big tests for his grappling. Even Costa, if he decided to actually use his grappling instead of brawling, would have been a bigger test than Strickland. There are others as well. But fact is the dude only had, what, 3 fights before his title shot? Are people really arguing he didn't get fasttracked and subsequently sidestepped a lot of competition?

If Vettori couldn’t implement his grappling against Izzy, what makes you think he could against AP? Are you saying that Izzy is a better counter grappler than AP? I’d say that their common opponent in Jan pretty much showed us who’s the better counter grappler.

 

[blaseblase]

Izzy was able to beat 4 of those guys with a comparable if not worse grappling ability than Alex, plus he’s smaller. What makes you so sure that any of these guys would be be able to dominate Poatan with grappling? Allen wasn’t ranked during Poatan’s run, but would you seriously pick him to win that hypothetical fight? Or Joker?

Izzy outwrestled Alex so no. Pereira isn't Izzy and simply hasn't faced the same level of wrestlers.

The reality is that he did receive favorable matchmaking to get to the title picture. It was blatantly obvious. They rushed him and fed him Strickland solely because of the Izzy rivalry. Doesn't take away what he did against Izzy and at LHW but it still happened.