Alex Pereira successfully defended his light heavyweight title at UFC 300 this past Saturday against Jamahal Hill, and in his post-fight interview made a shock callout.
After scoring a monumental first-round knockout over Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 main event, Alex Pereira made a shock callout of Tom Aspinall and said he wants the fight at UFC 301, in just three weeks.
Despite ‘Poatan’s’ desire, UFC CEO Dana White poured cold water on the idea and said in the post-fight press conference that he doesn’t think that’s the best idea for the 36-year-old at this point.
Michael Bisping believes Alex Pereira should avoid Tom Aspinall
UFC commentator Michael Bisping shares Dana White’s sentiment and stated that Alex Pereira should avoid fighting Tom Aspinall on such a short turnaround.
“The real danger against Tom Aspinall is in the grappling.” Bisping explained on his YouTube channel. “Tom has a ridiculously high fight IQ and ridiculously high skills. Right now, I don’t think the thing to do for Alex Pereira is to fight Tom Aspinall.”
The former middleweight champion went on to explain how from a marketing perspective, it’s not a good idea to let Pereira move up to heavyweight, and instead, he will become a bigger star by accumulating light heavyweight title defenses.
Bisping thinks a fight against Magomed Ankalaev should be next
Despite being against Pereira fighting Aspinall in three weeks, Bisping touched on the fact that the Brazilian is now 36 years old and only has a few years left at this level. With that, he suggested that Pereira fight Magomed Ankalaev next, but not on three weeks’ notice.
Magomed Ankalev is coming off a second-round knockout over Johnny Walker back in January, and he currently sits in rank two. A draw and a no-contest halted his momentum before his win over Walker, as he would’ve likely seen a title shot come sooner.
“Going down to Brazil in three weeks’ time, number one he has to make that weight cut again, he’s gigantic for 205lbs, so making the weight cut again that’d be drastic.
“Especially against Magomed Ankalaev. Ankalev is a tremendously well-rounded mixed martial artist. He’s a great wrestler and against Alex Pereira, the game plan would be to shoot to take away the best weapons of Alex Pereira.” Bisping added.
If Alex Pereira has shown any weaknesses so far during his eight-fight UFC tenure, it is in his grappling and wrestling defense. Bisping believes Pereira could ‘pay the ultimate price’ if he takes that fight on short notice, because of his lack of time to prepare that aspect of his game.
“Sure, fight Magomed Ankalaev because he’s the rightful number one contender, but give yourself the respect of having a full training camp, don’t be arrogant and think ‘I can take this guy on three weeks’ notice’ because you could pay the ultimate price.” Bisping finished.
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