UFC legend’s outrageous claim on Alex Pereira’s wrestling that had fight world shook

The MMA fight fandom is mere hours away from another Alex Pereira light heavyweight title defense at UFC 313. “Poatan” meets No. 1 ranked contender Magomed Ankalaev atop the PPV headliner. Ankalaev’s wrestling background is supposedly his stiffest test to date. However, Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier once had some counter with which Pereira could make a statement performance.

It’s on the lines of ‘send to Dagestan and forget.’ Daniel Cormier, along with others, has weighed in on the lack of ground game in Poatan. After UFC 303, Alex Perira took to honing his grappling skills more seriously and would often hit the mats at Teixeira MMA & Fitness (Danbury, Connecticut). ‘DC’ once said that if Pereira wrestled continuously for over a year, he’d be at par with Olympic wrestling champs.

Daniel Cormier has supported the UFC 205-pound champion’s pound-for-pound prowess and even negated Kamaru Usman on Pereira’s lack of wrestling. Cormier suggested Pereira could get at par with six–time World Champ/3-time Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix Abdulrashid Sadulaev.

“Russian Tank” Sadulaev is arguably the GOAT in freestyle (— 97kg). ‘DC,’ an Olympic wrestler himself, also name-dropped Akhmed Tazhudinov and youngest NCAA/Olympian Kyle Snyder for it! Islam Makhachev had then scoffed at the notion and said Magomed Ankalaev himself would diminish “Poatan.”

Cormier suggested that the champ has serviceable grappling and even took only 3/8 TD attempts from Jan Blachowicz. Makhachev retorted that Ankalaev’s UFC 282 performance against Blachowicz proved his skill ceiling and how Dagestani scramblers are. To Cormier’s defense, he let it stew, only to regress later.

Daniel Cormier regressed about claims that stone-hand Alex Pereira could be an Olympic champion

9 sweeping knockouts (triple-KO defenses in 2024) and 3 first-round finishes alone set the bar too high. That and a 33-7 (21 wins by KO) kickboxing record tell a different story about Alex “Poatan” Pereira. However, the Brazilian fighter is not invincible on the ground.

Hence, UFC 313’s Magomed Ankalaev is just a different beast for Poatan. The Russian fighter was a Greco-Roman wrestling champion of Dagestan. Amid all that, the claim that he could be Olympic-level was audacious! Daniel Cormier later stated that he was messing around with his friend.

The fact that the 5x Glory middleweight/light heavyweight and UFC champ Pereira had an incomplete skillset when he transitioned is still a big topic. After that, the fact that Poatan received a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt for excelling in training stirred up a typhoon! He had already received a brown belt at UFC 281. Cormier’s claim only bolstered the wrong sentiments even further.

Daniel Cormier, for thrice now, has felt Pereira’s ungodly power; he even once (jokingly) threatened him with a takedown in full force! During UFC 303 media check-ins, Pereira saw Makhachev’s comments and even quipped that maybe the UFC 155-pound kingpin took time to learn wrestling, but he won’t. Despite how viral the topic was around that time, ‘DC’ later made it known that he was only fooling around.

Related: Islam Makhachev’s spot at risk as Dana White hints at new title for Alex Pereira after UFC 313

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