Tag: Alex Pereira

Carlos Ulberg studying UFC champ Alex Pereira: ‘I’m coming up, and soon I’ll get my chance’

Carlos Ulberg thinks his chance to challenge UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira could come sooner than expected.

[autotag]Carlos Ulberg[/autotag] thinks his chance to challenge UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] could come sooner than expected.

Ulberg (10-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) takes on former title challenger Volkan Oezdemir (20-7 MMA, 8-6 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 248 Nov. 23 from Galaxy Arena in Macau, China.

Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) is fresh off his third light heavyweight title defense – a brutal fourth-round finish of Khalil Rountree in the UFC 307 headliner. A former kickboxer himself, Ulberg wasn’t surprised to see Rountree pose problems for Pereira.

“I had my money on Rountree,” Ulberg told Sky Sport New Zealand. “I thought Rountree would do well, given he’s quite explosive and it’ll give a different look to Alex Pereira. But as the rounds went on, I think Pereira came back and he stuck to his game plan, which was to tire him out and make use of the explosive power Rountree was using and over-using.”

Watching No. 8 ranked Rountree get a title shot, Ulberg won’t rule out the possibility of getting his chance with a win over Oezdemir.

“I’ve been studying Alex for a while now. He’s at the top and he’s the prime right now,” Ulberg said. “He’s definitely someone that everyone’s keeping an eye on, so knowing that he’s got a high fight IQ, it is always good to sit back and see how he operates in the octagon.

“I’m coming up, and soon I’ll get my chance. …  Once I get through Oezdemir, which is going to be a hard task for sure, it’s free rein from there and it’ll give me the opportunity to go for the light heavyweight title. As you’ve seen the No. 8 who’s just fought for the light heavyweight title, at any given time we’re going to be called up for that.”

Ulberg has some adversity to deal with before stepping into the cage against Oezdemir. The City Kickboxing standout revealed that he broke his toe six weeks’ out of his fight, but has no intentions of pulling out.

“I just broke my toe yesterday in sparring and didn’t realize that I’d broken it until doing my sit-ups and seeing it was facing the other way,” Ulberg said. “It’s just going through all that pain and struggle, and doing it all over again the next day. So, until then, it’s just doing what I need to do, what’s been working in my favor in the past, and just trying to keep to the same formula really.”

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Chael Sonnen questions Tom Aspinall’s takedown ability in potential Alex Pereira UFC heavyweight fight

Chael Sonnen likes Alex Pereira’s chances against Tom Aspinall.

[autotag]Chael Sonnen[/autotag] likes [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag]’s chances against [autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag].

Light heavyweight champion Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) notched his third title defense when he brutally took out Khalil Rountree in Round 4 of their UFC 307 headliner in Salt Lake City.

Pereira said he plans on staying put at 205 pounds for the time being, but would like to move up to heavyweight someday. “Poatan” posted an image of interim heavyweight champion Aspinall (15-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC) watching him on, which has Sonnen salivating at the idea of a potential matchup between the two.

Although Aspinall’s grappling is expected to pose problems for Pereira, Sonnen isn’t sure if he’d succeed in getting to the necessary positions to take him down.

“I cannot guarantee you that the younger, bigger guy in Tom would win,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “There’s just something special about Alex, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. But I don’t know that Tom has the skills to just go out and take him down, so we might have to take that off of the board.

“I think Alex would have a really hard time getting up because of the size, but to get him there, Tom’s probably going to want to trade, probably have a little bit of ego like everybody else of, ‘Let me show all of you,’ and it might work out for him. But, it just might be a very dangerous proposition as well.”

Aspinall currently awaits the winner of the heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, which headlines UFC 309 on Nov. 16 in New York. But with Jones and a couple of his coaches hinting that “Bones” could be making the final walk at Madison Square Garden, Aspinall’s future is uncertain.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Israel Adesanya: Khalil Rountree’s ‘stock goes up after’ UFC 307 loss to Alex Pereira

Israel Adesanya gives his opinion on Alex Pereira’s title defense against Khalil Rountree a UFC 307.

Give credit where credit is due. Former UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Israel Adesanya[/autotag] paid his respect to both [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] and [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] following their recent clash.

This past Saturday, Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and Rountree (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) gave fans one of the best championship fights of the year, going toe to toe for almost 20 minutes in the main event of UFC 307 in Salt Lake City.

Although the result was maybe expected, many were taken away by Rountree’s toughness and competitiveness, while also admiring Pereira’s comeback ability and skill. Adesanya was one of them.

“He lasted longer than I thought he would,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “At least someone else took him to the fourth round. It shows how good Khalil is. Again he’s (Pereira) got some hard fights in front of him, but he is that guy right now, he’s on.

“Honestly, I called it, but I thought it was going to be earlier. Shout out to Khalil because fighting with a broken nose and the intelligence not to blow his nose in the fight, respect. His stock goes up after this. What a moment.”

With the victory, Pereira is now on a five-fight winning streak since moving up to 205 pounds and has three title defenses. He won the light heavyweight title by stopping former champ Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 last November, and went on to pick up his first title defense in April at UFC 300 by finishing Jamahal Hill. “Poatan” then returned on short notice at UFC 303 in June, where he defeated Prochazka in a rematch.

On the other hand, Rountree saw his five-fight winning streak come to an end. This was his first UFC title opportunity in the eight years he’s been in the promotion.

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Jamahal Hill on yawning after Alex Pereira’s win over Khalil Rountree: ‘I never said the fight was boring’

Jamahal Hill says his reaction to Alex Pereira’s finish of Khalil Rountree was taken out of context.

[autotag]Jamahal Hill[/autotag] says his reaction to [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag]’s finish of [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] was taken out of context.

Hill (12-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) was in attendance to watch light heavyweight champion Pereira brutally TKO Rountree in Round 4 of Saturday’s UFC 307 main event in Salt Lake City. Rountree won the first two rounds before getting finished.

After Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) stopped Rountree (13-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC), the camera panned to Hill, who was seen yawning. Hill’s yawning reaction was understood by many as him thinking the fight was boring.

“It’s crazy how y’all see a clip with no context, no nothing, and y’all just be ready to talk sh*t and just attack and come disrespectful as ever,” Hill said on his YouTube channel. “It’s hilarious.

“I wasn’t mic’d up or anything like that, so I couldn’t explain the context of the yawn and things like that after the fight. I think I did hear a reporter told Alex, ‘Oh, Jamahal said the fight was boring.’ I never said the fight was boring.”

Hill was knocked out in the first round of his title fight against Pereira at UFC 300 in April. He predicted that Pereira would struggle against a southpaw like Rountree, and explains that his yawn was just him implying that he knew the fight would pan out like that.

“Now, to the yawn, the yawn at the end was – was it entertaining? Yes,” Hill said. “Was I impressed? No. I’m not impressed. You know, I’m ready to go. Did I see anything in the cage that scares me or that I didn’t expect to see? No.

“So as far as reacting and everything, I don’t think I really need to do much of a reaction to this fight because, before, if you watch, or you watch my breakdowns, you can see I told you exactly how this fight was going to go.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Jake Paul says Khalil Rountree exposed Alex Pereira holes: ‘I know I would beat him’ in boxing

After watching Alex Pereira finish Khalil Rountree, Jake Paul is even more confident that he could beat him in boxing.

After watching [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] finish [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag], [autotag]Jake Paul[/autotag] is even more confident that he could beat him in boxing.

Paul called out light heavyweight champion Pereira for a boxing match after he scored a TKO finish of Mike Perry in July. “Poatan” responded and was game for a fight.

Pereira is fresh off a violent Round 4 TKO of Rountree to retain his light heavyweight title in Saturday’s UFC 307 headliner. He lost the first two rounds, before finding his groove and battering Rountree.

Paul thinks Rountree exposed Pereira in that fight.

”One thousand percent I would beat him,” Paul told Adin Ross on boxing Pereira. “That’s the thing is, Rountree actually kind of exposed that he doesn’t have a high volume output. He doesn’t like body shots. In MMA, Pereira would rip my head off. But boxing is a completely different sport, and the pace of it, and the style of it.”

Paul (10-1) takes on 58-year-old boxing legend Mike Tyson (50-6-2) on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. With Pereira currently under UFC contract, a fight with Paul is highly unlikely.

”He has holes,” Paul said. “I mean, Rountree rocked him, hurt him a couple of times to the body, but didn’t follow up on it. So if anything, this fight showed me, yes, Alex Pereira is great. But I know I would beat him in a boxing match, and I still would love to make that happen. Pressure is on him. If he can find his way out of the UFC contract like Nate Diaz did, then eventually him and I can talk.”

Pereira, a former two-weight division Glory Kickboxing champion, boxed once professionally – a TKO win over Marcelo de Souza Cruz 2017 in Brazil.

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Alex Pereira vs. Artem Vakhitov: Full videos of their two GLORY Kickboxing matches

Now that Artem Vakhitov has joined Alex Pereira in the UFC, check out their two kickboxing matches in full here.

The history between [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] and [autotag]Artem Vakhitov[/autotag] was on full display Tuesday during Dana White’s Contender Series 75.

Twice kickboxing rivals in GLORY, Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) and Vakhitov (3-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) could break the tie in MMA now that they’re both under the UFC umbrella.

Vakhitov earned a UFC contract Tuesday when he finished opponent Islem Masraf (3-1) with strikes in the first round. Pereira flew out to spectate the fight from cageside.

According to UFC CEO Dana White, his recommendation was also taken into account when deciding if the promotion would extend an offer to Vakhitov, which he did.

While there’s tremendous respect between the two former GLORY champions, there’s also an acknowledgment of their history and the potential they could meet again.

Check out their two kickboxing matches in full in the videos below.

Fight 1: Glory 77

Date: Jan. 30, 2021
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Result: Alex Pereira def. Artem Vakhitov via split decision (scorecards not announced)

Fight 2: Glory 77

Date: Sept. 24, 2021
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Result: Artem Vakhitov def. Alex Pereira via majority decision (48-46, 46-48, 47-47, 48-46, 49-45)

Conor McGregor says ‘2024 has been Alex Pereira’s year,’ lobbies for Jon Jones showdown

Conor McGregor thinks Alex Pereira is currently the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC.

[autotag]Conor McGregor[/autotag] believes [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] is currently the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the UFC.

Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) notched his third light heavyweight title defense in the span of seven months when he stopped Khalil Rountree by fourth-round TKO in Saturday’s UFC 307 main event in Salt Lake City.

McGregor had high praise for Pereira and the banner year he’s had in 2024.

“2024 has been Alex Pereira’s year, no one can deny that,” McGregor told The Schmo.”If we go by that, forget belts, forget anything of that, it’s in competition. He’s (three) fights this year, (three) KOs, and his most impressive one was most recently. I’d put Alex Pereira as No. 1.”

McGregor was hoping Pereira would announce a move up to heavyweight after finishing Rountree, but “Poatan” said he plans on staying put at 205 pounds for the time being. McGregor thinks Pereira would be an interesting stylistic matchup for heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who defends his belt against Stipe Miocic in the UFC 309 headliner Nov. 16 in New York.

“I think he poses a lot of problems for Jon also,” McGregor continued. “That’s a dangerous style for Jon. But it’s a decent one for him because he’s not so big. Jon is new to the heavyweight division. Jon, he had a nice one against Ciryl Gane, but he’s still untested at heavyweight.

“And I’m sure in the back of his mind, he has that thought that some of these guys are really big. Alex is a nice one and still a dangerous one, though. At the core of it, it’s probably even more dangerous. I’d be excited to see that bout take place for sure.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Daniel Cormier explains how ‘very special’ Alex Pereira can become GOAT after UFC 307

Daniel Cormier maps out a path for how Alex Pereira can become the greatest UFC fighter of all time.

[autotag]Daniel Cormier[/autotag] has mapped out a path for how [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] can become the greatest UFC fighter of all time.

Pereira has now defended his UFC light heavyweight title three times in the span of seven months, most recently with a brutal fourth-round TKO of Khalil Rountree this past Saturday at UFC 307. Pereira, who also held the UFC middleweight title, now has as many title defenses as Cormier did at 205 pounds.

Cormeir said winning a third UFC title could separate Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) from the pack.

“Pereira is in the conversation for the greatest of all time,” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “Not yet quite the greatest, but if he can somehow win a fight at heavyweight, compete for the championship, or continue to defend this belt at light heavyweight, I don’t know that you can even question it.

“This is a man who became the middleweight champ, has defended the light heavyweight championship. He was never a real middleweight, though. He was so big that it’s easy to see how Izzy (Adesanya) got him the second time after he won the belt. …This dude is special. He’s very special.”

Cormier revealed that Pereira and his team contemplated pulling out of the fight after “Poatan” was dealing with a slew of injuries. So with Pereira deciding to fight and putting on a memorable performance, Cormier said the sky is the limit for him now.

“I believe he can do whatever he wants at this point, because he’s got a lot of goodwill with the organization right now,” Cormier said. “Pereira was hurt, too. I was talking to his manager and his coach after the fight, and they said they told the UFC, ‘We’re going to go to Salt Lake, and we’re going to try and train, but we may pull out.’ The UFC said to him, ‘That would suck, but let us know how it goes because we have two title fights, and we’ll elevate one if that’s what we need to do.’

“The goodwill you gain from the organization when you do that is unbelievable. So, if he did go into the offices of Dana, Hunter and those guys, and go, ‘I would like to fight Tom Aspinall for the interim championship’ – those actions that he showed last weekend leads to you receiving those types of opportunities. The world is really his oyster in terms of what he can do next, if he so chooses to try a fight up at heavyweight. But for me, it’s fight Ankalaev. Right now, you’ve got to fight Ankalaev if he gets through Rakic.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.

Dana White explains how Alex Pereira convinced him to sign Artem Vakhitov to UFC

Alex Pereira went to bat for his former kickboxing rival, Artem Vakhitov. Luckily for him, Dana White was willing to listen.

LAS VEGAS – It was [autotag]Artem Vakhitov[/autotag]’s former kickboxing rival who talked [autotag]Dana White[/autotag] into signing him to the UFC.

Vakhitov (3-1) earned a UFC contract Tuesday when he scored a first-round TKO of Islem Masraf (3-1) at Dana White’s Contender Series 75 from the UFC Apex. White admits he was initially hesitant to sign former two-time Glory light heavyweight champion Vakhitov, the last man to defeat [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] in kickboxing, but “Poatan” convinced him.

“That’s why I’m so late. I’ve been back there talking to Alex this whole time,” White told reporters, including MMA Junkie, during a Dana White’s Contender Series 75 post-fight news conference. “He said, ‘Obviously, a little more clinching than you would expect.’ You would expect the other guy to clinch with him, not him clinching. But he said, ‘This is what I think. I think he’s talented enough. I think he deserves to be here. He’s had, obviously, a ton of fights in his career.’

“Which is what I thought, too, going in. He said, ‘I think that the Contender Series, no matter where you’ve fought or what you’ve done, puts a different type of pressure on you, and you might not perform the way you normally would.’ He thinks that this is a tremendous amount of pressure. He said, ‘All I know is I’m glad I never had to go through the Contender Series.'”

Vakhitov and Pereira split their two kickboxing appearances. Pereira won the first fight by split decision and Vakhitov avenged his loss in their rematch by majority decision.

White acknowledges that many fighters have noticed the success that former kickboxers Israel Adesanya and Alex Pereira have had in the UFC, and want to follow suit.

“What I actually think, like we were saying earlier, it’s fascinating how these guys that came out of this whole circuit with Israel and Alex, including them, are doing so well in the UFC,” White said. “It’s fascinating, so yeah, why not? I think it’s all of it. Obviously, those guys fought crazy fights that I’m sure they didn’t make any money. Joanna Jedrzejczyk and many others come over here, and it’s absolutely life changing for them.”

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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 75.

USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings, Oct. 8: Julianna Peña back on top

Check out the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings following UFC 307, where Julianna Peña reclaimed the women’s bantamweight title.

The latest pay-per-view event for the UFC hosted a pair of title fights, producing a new two-time champion.

In the main event of UFC 307, [autotag]Alex Pereira[/autotag] successfully defended his light heavyweight title by stopping [autotag]Khalil Rountree[/autotag] in a Fight of the Night battle. Pereira is already No. 1 in his division and in the P4P rankings, so he has nowhere to move. However, Rountree, even in a loss, moves up a few spots due to his stellar performance, moving from No. 12 to No. 10.

In the co-feature, [autotag]Julianna Peña[/autotag] emerged victorious in a controversial split decision win over [autotag]Raquel Pennington[/autotag] to win back the women’s bantamweight title. Peña entered the week at No. 2 and Pennington at No. 1, swapping places after Saturday’s result.

In another women’s bantamweight swap, No. 3 [autotag]Ketlen Viera[/autotag] lost to No. 4 [autotag]Kayla Harrison[/autotag]. They swap rankings in this week’s update.

Check out all the latest pound-for-pound and divisional USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie rankings.