UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira hit new levels of stardom in 2024 after he defended his title three times with a trio of brutal knockouts while becoming one of the most recognizable athletes on the entire roster.
That level of success typically leads to more opportunities like Pereira recently signing on for his first major acting role after being cast in director Adam Wingard’s (Godzilla vs. Kong, You’re Next) new film Onslaught alongside names such as Dan Stevens, Drew Starkey, Adria Arjona and Rebecca Hall. He also took time out of his training schedule to travel halfway around the world to corner Sean Strickland at UFC 312 in February, which took place just a few weeks ahead of his own title fight against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313.
While Pereira insists he’s not losing focus ahead of his next fight, UFC legend Matt Brown notes that “Poatan” wouldn’t be the first high-profile champion to get distracted after tasting real success inside and outside the cage.
“Absolutely possible [he’s distracted],” Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “He doesn’t come across as the type to do that, but it’s 1,000-percent possible because the way that you train to get there is, for the vast majority of guys, completely different when you’re there.
“He didn’t have distractions coming up. He won GLORY championships and everything. He didn’t have a ton of popularity at that time. Now he’s getting hit from all angles. His mind, there’s no way it’s in exactly the same spot, the same hunger and Ankalaev has a lot to prove here. He’s an underdog. A lot of people are probably writing him off and he feels like he’s kind of been shorted this whole time, having to work so much to get the title shot and felt like Alex was kind of ducking him. I doubt that he was, but it is what it is. Yeah, he’s fighting a guy that’s hungry as f*ck.”
Ankalaev was arguably already the No. 1 contender in the division prior to Pereira fighting Khalil Rountree Jr. this past October but he ended up getting another win over Aleksandar Rakic to finally solidify his position.
Even then there were questions if Ankalaev would get the title shot but the UFC finally came through with the opportunity to headline Saturday’s pay-per-view against Pereira.
On paper, Ankalaev’s size, power, striking and combat sambo background make him arguably the toughest test for Pereira since he became champion. Add to that, Pereira has primarily faced opponents willing to stand and trade with him on the feet during his title reign but Ankalaev may not give him that option.
“Alex has weaknesses, and he has to put in a lot of work to catch those weaknesses up,” Brown explained. “I don’t want to take away from anything that he’s done, but he has had favorite matchups. He hasn’t went against great wrestlers or great jiu-jitsu guys or anything, great grapplers yet. We know that he has these weaknesses. What he needs to do to continue to rise up is to put in the amount of time that he put on his striking for many years becoming GLORY two-division champion and everything into the grappling.
“Because he has to recognize that this time is going to come. He has had favorable matchups. I’m not saying that to take away from his insane run that he’s had. It’s been fascinating. It’s been amazing. But I think we’d be fools to deny that his matchups have been favorable, and he needs to be putting that sort of energy and time into making those weaknesses strengths or at least minimizing those weaknesses. It’s hard to believe that he’s doing that while doing however many millions of other things in Australia or whatever it is that he’s doing. That’s where I would fear it the most.”
Brown has long praised Pereira for the way he’s transitioned to MMA after spending most of his career in kickboxing. At 37, Pereira is one of the two oldest champions on the entire UFC roster — the other being Jon Jones, who is two weeks older than the Brazilian — and he’s continued to look nearly invincible while dispatching names like Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka over the past couple of years.
But Brown knows eventually Pereira is going to run into an opponent who is truly going to challenge him and if he’s anything less than fully prepared, it’s going to cost him.
“I’m not going to say he’s going to get exposed at some point but it’s going to be tested at some point,” Brown said. “I don’t doubt that Ankalaev is going to try to test it. It’s in his best interest to try and test it.
“Ankalaev does not get the hype around him like other guys have. That’s all it is — hype. If you look at it objectively on paper, or just objectively watch the style, Ankalaev is not going to be an easy matchup. That doesn’t mean Alex won’t go out there and catch him early like Jamahal Hill and pop him. You know what happens when Alex lands a clean shot. It’s always bad news for the other guy. But if you’re Ankalaev, you’re hungry. This is your chance. You haven’t got the recognition you’ve deserved. You haven’t got the hype around you. Everybody is writing you off. All the betting odds are against you. That’s just going to fire you up even more.”
Through Pereira’s entire run at 205 pounds, Brown admits this is probably the most worried he’s been about a potential upset, but he’s not ready to crown Ankalaev as champion just yet. If anything, Brown expects this fight might actually serve as a wakeup call that Pereira needs to shut down all outside distractions and ensure his first priority remains his own fighting career.
“I’m going to stick with Alex. I think those distractions that we’re talking about might catch up to him, they might even show in the fight. He might not perform as well as he necessarily should. The problem that I see with Ankalaev, he’s just not a finisher. If he wins, it’s probably going to be a decision, and I think that’s a tough route to take against Alex.
“I’m not as confident as I’ve been with Alex in the past either. There’s been many fights with Alex where you’re like, bro, Alex has got this in the f*cking bag. I don’t have no real doubts about it. This one, I’m not totally confident in the pick, partially because of the distraction thing but partially because Ankalaev is just that good.”
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