Who were the “unfavorable” matches for Alex?

[Pequeño Corey]

Only real test for Poatan was Jamahill fam but mans passed dat test even though there’s always gonna be an asterisk cuz of Herb Dean mans prolly get KO’d next round set up a trilogy styll Poatan legit tho fam h8rs just busy wastin’ time throwin’ shade in the UFC/PowerSlap discussion board Plus bro's PowerKube score? Pure madness insanity fr fr I'm inda studio rn making a teach aboot his score no cap

Ngl i wanna hear it. Hmu when it drops or just make a thread about it. I know my mans from the 6ix is spittin hot fire on the mic

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Vettori was the only matchup that looks bad for him in the top 10. Izzy had already fought and beaten pretty much everyone in the top 10 other than Strickland and Alex. So the UFC wasn't going to put Alex against Vettori and eliminate one of the only new matchups is he could get.

The people claiming that Alex had an easy way to the top don't think about these things though.

I don’t see Vettori as unfavorable. He has a good chin, cardio, and pressure, but he doesn’t have KO power. If he couldn’t stifle Izzy in a 5 round affair, why should we assume that he could do it to Alex, the bigger, stronger fighter with equivalent counter grappling? I don’t believe believe that Sean was a better match than Marvin. In fact, as it turns out, Sean was actually the hardest match in the top ten. He went on to win the belt. People forget.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

I just checked and Brunson was actually in the top 5 at the time.

View attachment 1041513

They took an unranked fighter and skipped him over a lot of guys with wrestling to get to Strickland.

Who were the guys with the wrestling? Eddie? Weidmann? Imavov? Are you telling me that you would pick any of those guys to beat AP?

 

[xhaydenx]

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

And Izzy got easily outwreslted by Yan, who then couldn't do the same to Alex.

It's a wild game.

 

[Hdfi]

I just checked and Brunson was actually in the top 5 at the time.

View attachment 1041513

They took an unranked fighter and skipped him over a lot of guys with wrestling to get to Strickland.

Brunson wasn't in the top 5 by FightMatrix on April, 2022 (maybe in the UFC but I don't know the date), it doesn't matter anyway, he had a loss to Adesanya and they didn't want to risk losing another potential contender. Adesanya had wins over almost everyone in the top 10, including 2x Whittaker and 2x Vettori. Poatan at the time was the only opponent that would make sense.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Oh C'mon guys. Everybody knows Alex got fast tracked. But he deserved it in some way.
I think he have 34 when UFC hired him (very close to end his prime), the guy is the only double champ in glory history that defended both belts simultaneously.
The fact that Izzy was wooping MW division so bad to a point that the division was becoming boring, suddenly we found that guy with a lot of accomplishments and with 2 wins over the current champion ? Its obvious that everyone want to watch it.

Alex 1st opponent was a full grapller guy, Bruno Silva has some kind of wrestling too, and tbh, Alex was trying to figth any ranked guy at that time, I remember him asking for cannonier atm.
And Strickland was the only one with balls to take that AP figth, and poatan was a big underdog with +300.
If brunson, vettori, or hermanson have accepted to figth, I bet Alex would take anyone. And tbh, Brunson probably could have a very good 1st round, just to get knocked out cold in the modlle of 2nd round when the first left hook hits his glass chin.

Vettori is a very tough match up to Alex tbh, the guy has solid wrestling and the best chin in UFC history, Alex doesn't have the same movement that adesanya possess, so I think that's probably one of the worsts match ups for him in MW.

Whittaker could probably be one of the hardest ones to him, but he's involved in another.matches that time. He moves a lot and have that solid wrestling, but I can see Alex putting him Down with 1 clean shot.

Strickland was really the only "leapfrog" UFC gave him, and due to MW circumstances at that time, his shot was legit.
I think he pretty much deserved his shot at LHW too due to 2 champions vacating, and he beating Jan.

AP may not have movement like Izzy, but he’s much stronger and has a better grappling pedigree imo. He gassed Jan out in a round and a half just from defending takedowns and a few rnc attempts. If Marvin couldn’t get anything going against Izzy, I doubt he could against Alex.

Agree about his move to LHW. He stepped up beat to the #3 guy. If he beats Ankalaev, which I think he will, everyone can And the funny thing is, Ank hasn’t really shown the dominant level of grappling that we come to expect from a Dagestani. I think it’s because he’s just not really that good of a grappler in an MMA context. Everyone calls it poor fight IQ, I think it’s just his natural inclination. I was talking about MW in this thread specifically, but we can expand it to LHW, and still, there’s not really any bad fights that they’re sheltering AP from.

 

[ThaiSexPills]

Nobody. He faced the best and anyone disagreeing is grasping st straws

 

[meast]

According to Chris Weidman, it was Chris Weidman

Will use the destroyer leg check like he did against Anderson

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Ya entirely possible. It did look like Jan was going to choke him out in the first round at one point. Pereira pulling off a submission from his back like Anderson-Chael might be what he needs to silence all critics for all time. Lol

I just rewatched. That sub wasn’t really close. Just the “ooohs” from the crowd and the dynamic Rogan/DC duo doing what they do. There were two attempts and neither were under the chin. Alex defended well and Jan blew his wad trying to grapple. Alex also threatened Jan with a gilly early, which was much tighter than the rnc imo.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

He had 2 UFC fights against unranked fighters then got pushed into a fight with Strickland. That's the definition of an easy way to the top. Its stupid to deny it.

Easy? How is the #5 ranked guy easy? Yes, he was fast tracked, but that’s not the same as “favorable matchmaking” as it pertains to protecting a fighter from bad matchups. This is exactly what they did with Brock, and we all knew there were plenty of HWs that would smash him. Again, who was this hypothetical matchup that would have been harder than Strickland? There really isn’t one.

 

[Pechan]

Apparently anyone he beat was a favorable match up, once he loses there will be a bunch of "SEE I TOLD YOU SO!" losers (including fighters) and will ignore the fact that he has beaten high level grapplers before.

 

[Da Speeit]

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.

Jan was the better fighter that night and a 5 rounder would have been hell for Alex

 

[PaddyO'malley]

Ngl i wanna hear it. Hmu when it drops or just make a thread about it. I know my mans from the 6ix is spittin hot fire on the mic

Yo fam I know flamin against di rule fam but here sum hot fire

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currently remixin' cuz dat Ngannou diss fire but cyattie ain't say his name right even tho I spell it out for her

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Yo fam I know flamin against di rule fam but here sum hot fire

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I love this we all know Edgie Hall be lyin Ngannou swinging backpacks good stuff. U should make a thread so everyone can vibe on this.

 

[Pequeño Corey]

Jan was the better fighter that night and a 5 rounder would have been hell for Alex

Jan was gassed bad after the first. Shot a panic double at the end of the second. Couldn’t do anything with the takedown he landed in the last minute. Two more rounds, Alex finishes him imo. Body language said it all. Jan sitting down with his back against the cage. He was roasted after trying to grapple Alex for 1 round. Basically a punching and kicking bag for Alex in the second and most of the third. That’s why he lost.

 

[TerrorTimmy]

It's less "favorable matchups" and more "he was fast-tracked" because he absolutely was. They wanted to get the guy who already beat Izzy to the belt ASAP and that's what they did.

But they did also avoid anybody with good wrestling for obvious reasons. He still hasn't faced any good wrestlers. It hurts to (partially) agree with Weidman but he hasn't had to face a good wrestler. Weidman is so washed that he'd get knocked out immediately but a guy like Brunson would at least have given him a test. There's a good chance he would have won anyway, though, but we'll never know.

 

[mkt]

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

Nah, Romero went 1-4 between 2017-2020 in the UFC then left for Bellator. Alex's first UFC fight was 2021. The older Romero doesn't wrestle at all and his striking is too predictable. He can't even outstrike a washed Phil Davis.

 

[maximus__]

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.

He probably needed one more match before or after Strickland, but that win aged so well. He fought Izzy because of their history and then they went 1-1.
He jumped straight into the deep end at LHW and skipped the ranks again, but he deserved that shot.

It'
s not his fault none of these people will sign him and can't get past the people he keeps beating.

 

[mkt]

It's less "favorable matchups" and more "he was fast-tracked" because he absolutely was. They wanted to get the guy who already beat Izzy to the belt ASAP and that's what they did.

But they did also avoid anybody with good wrestling for obvious reasons. He still hasn't faced any good wrestlers. It hurts to (partially) agree with Weidman but he hasn't had to face a good wrestler. Weidman is so washed that he'd get knocked out immediately but a guy like Brunson would at least have given him a test. There's a good chance he would have won anyway, though, but we'll never know.

I agree but there have been so few good wrestlers between prime Chael/Weidman and now Khamzat and (with a lot MMA refining) maybe Nickal. Pereira would've faced an older Brunson who got stuffed multiple times by a gimp-legged, 40+ year old Anderson Silva. That's the biggest realistic challenge he would've faced at MW unless he faced Whittaker or DDP and they decided to wrestle.

 

[SalvadorAllende]

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.

Most of those guys do not have very good offensive wrestling.

I think Brunson was the best of the bunch in that regard but had 1.5 rounds of cardio and a shit chin. Vettori is a mediocre crotch sniffer but not much more. Hermansson has a solid ground game but not very good takedowns.

I'm pretty sure Allen was pretty far down in the rankings and had no hype. No reason to make that fight.

At LHW I think it was Jan.