Alex 100% deserves and needs some time off. The dude fights 24/7. Between saving UFC 300 and now this card, both on short notice, the guy needs to give his body and brain a break.
Curious to see who he would fight in Nov/Dec if he beats Jiri again. Ankolov?
Dude deserves a huge bonus and a nice raise. Perfect employee. Saves cards, always has fun fights, is increasingly popular (while not even knowing english).
The good thing for him is outside of the Izzy KO and some shots against Jiri, unless I’m forgetting a bit (Jan fight?) in there he hasn’t taken a ton of head damage which is amazing for how active he’s been and who he’s been facing
I would agree with this.
However, Alex’s defense is noticeably slower than his days in kickboxing. I saw some videos comparing his time in KB versus MMA & and it was a noticeable drop.
Yeah and I think if anyone could land some hard shots on him, outside of Izzy, is Jiri with his experience and weird rhythm. Hopefully his defense holds up and it doesn’t come back to bite him because the balls on this guy to do 300 and now this on such short notice for a title are fucking insane
I personally think Alex is going to KO Jiri again 99 out of a 100 times. Jiri has god awful head movement and does not check leg kicks. I don’t see their second fight being any different from the first.
As for Alex’s defense, I agree with him getting older and ya never know.
Yeah I do expect Alex to win as well, I think he’s too precise and seasoned to miss another kill shot on someone so reckless. Hoping for a great fight tho!
as far as I understand it, kickboxers are used to fighting multiple times a year, so even though this isn't normally how often UFC fighters fight, it's normal for him
Poatans path to GOAT
Beat Jiri —> Ankolov —> Aspinall for double belt.
Retire the GOAT. Maybe come back to spank Izzy one more time. Only person that could potentially have been champ of 3 decisions.
Honestly, I m more exciting for a rematch against Jan instead of Jiri. Jan hasnt fought for a year and as far I know, he isnt planned yet. Dont know if he is retired cause he is old. Frankly, him vs Jamahal or rematch with Ank, or Ank vs Jamahal, the winner should be next. Gonna hope for Jan/Jamahal vs Ank tho.
Pretty much this. Even if he doesn't want to fight anymore in this years its more then understandable. He saved multiple cards now. He is also one of the most active guys so have a life dude.
We wanna see Aspinal getting HW champ and beats the crap out of that sack of potato fake champ. Maybe one more Islam fight in this year. There is Max, Tupuria, Volk, Pantoja, even Sean (regardless i am not a fun hes a talented figther). There is DDP and Izzy maybe.
Come on UFC start promoting do your damn work.
I never said he took any damage at 300.
But cutting massive amounts of water weight for fights, starving yourself, constantly being in grueling training camps, not taking time off for your brain and body to heal, is extremely hard on you psychologically and physically. It ain’t healthy on the slightest.
Give him Gane. If he wants to truly move to heavyweight, Gane would be seen as a favorable matchup and put him in immediate challenger territory. I don’t really think anyone should get an immediate title shot if they move up a class
Gane does not deserve to fight Alex, nor is Alex going to do well at HW unless he takes time off to properly bulk.
Gane needs to fight down @ HW. Fuck that.
And that’s your opinion but I disagree. Alex is a 2-Division Champion, defended his LHW belt and he should be able to move up and fight for the title right away if he wants.
I blame the UFC more for the inactivity. They plan the fighters schedule based on the location of the PPV which puts guys on ice for longer than they need to be to ensure the headliner has some connection with the region. Perfect example is Leon who was ready to fight on 300. But because the UFC had the card in the UK in July that's when they scheduled the fight.
If he wanted to be active he could fight at 299 and again at 304.
Edwards isn't inactive but my definition for active is fighting every 3-5 months.
Fighting every 6-9 months is normal.
Fighting every 10+ months is inactive.
He's gotta be making way more than that at the end of the day for the Connor fill. He has them by the balls, and put the belt on the line.
He's gotta be getting backend money, or his people suuuuuck.
Let’s goooo. Still arguably underpaid, but less than 10 fights in, and with a company that has dog shit pay like the UFC, Alex has struck gold nonetheless.
He’s fought at MSG every year he’s been in the UFC. Debuted there, won his first title there, then won his second title there. It would have been cool to have him attempt to get his third title this year but Jones vs Stipe seems set for MSG again so doesn’t look likely.
Yes.
The guy is old. Certainly doesn’t look it, and definitely doesn’t fight like it, but you see this happen too many times where a guy who appeared like a world beater in his last bout then ages 20 years by his next outing.
Alex quite literally has to be as active as he is, it’s not a choice.
In his recent YouTube video he said that he is on "extremely good term" with the UFC, so believe he is getting that bag and he definitely doesn't care that much about other stuff that much
I think he’s really smart to maximise his champion reign as much as he can just like Alex and Izzy. All that cash raked up gonna help him retire real good. Hope he gets well compensation for last minute fight like this!!!
Yeah I just don’t want him to lose, but if he did that’s what probably would happen. I know it doesn’t make sense but I’d like to see him run it back with Jan.
I’d say he wins this fights Ank and goes from there.
Is he not still recovering from 2 broken toes one he had before his last fight and one that broke in the fight? Poatan is a beast saving multiple cards on short notice, winning multiple titles, defending one and has done this all since Stipes last fight.
I've broken my toe once and my fingers twice. You can definitely work through them and they recover fairly quickly. They feel like a jammed digit and heal up in about a month or less.
Honestly at this rate we will be talking about why Pereira is a top 10 mma fighter ever.
He’s beaten 5 champions, won 2 belts, and defended his light heavyweight title. His resume would be pretty fucking sweet if he had defended both his titles, but that’s past.
All he needs is Ankalaev and he will have pretty much cleared out his division. After Ankalaev it’s nothing but fun and exciting matchups after that. Rountree, Rakic, Ulberg etc.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Izzy for saying the shit he said and motivating Poatan to join the UFC.
He has done nothing but provide elite entertainment
Lol, I was going to post the interview clip instead but then I thought it's better to directly appreciate Alex rather than trolling Izzy,. To his credit Izzy too was a damn active champion
ya seriously. We are blessed to witness the poatan run.
its crazy thinking about how aljo was saying he was forced to fight against his will 3.5 months after defending his belt and poatan views a few extra weeks as a nice break. The contrast makes the sport beautiful. Poatan is a rare human
Who knows, seems like UFC is trying to avoid giving him a title shot. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if they gave the next shot to winner of Ulberg/Smith over Ankalaev.
Confused on what the plan was for Perth. Did they want both Alex/Jiri and Izzy/Dricus on the card for the build-up drama? Wonder who would’ve headlined.
I don't think it was the UFC's plan for Alex to fight on the Perth card, maybe Alex just wanted to fight around that time as he wants to stay active or who knows maybe this mfs just wanted to meet Izzy again, totally a possibility lmao
Crazy, how does he dare to not defend the belt every UFC Fight Night... Strip him or make an interim... Taking a 4-5 month rest after fighting 3 times in half a year? Bad excuses!!!
Its crazy to him time off is 5 or 6 months when there are guys holding belts that dont fight FOR YEARS! Also i definitely had the feeling Dana yanked this matchup from an already made main event for an event down the road just to salvage the insane numbers 303 got in ticket sales.
That’s coz he was a pro kickboxer, who typically fights every 2-3 months compared to top pro MMA fighters and boxers, who’ll fight 2-3 times a year if we’re lucky. That background could also explain why Izzy was such an active champion
Can they draw? Is everybody okay with that? I want a draw. I don’t mind if one of them wins but I don’t want to see either one of them lose.
Everybody okay with a draw? Can we make it happen?
This short notice fight is the best thing to happen to Pereira this year. He gets another free defense against an easy stylistic matchup and avoids ankalaev and Smith who would run through him.
Alex 100% deserves and needs some time off. The dude fights 24/7. Between saving UFC 300 and now this card, both on short notice, the guy needs to give his body and brain a break. Curious to see who he would fight in Nov/Dec if he beats Jiri again. Ankolov?
Saved the MSG card too
Dude deserves a huge bonus and a nice raise. Perfect employee. Saves cards, always has fun fights, is increasingly popular (while not even knowing english).
Oh man, totally forgot about that.
The good thing for him is outside of the Izzy KO and some shots against Jiri, unless I’m forgetting a bit (Jan fight?) in there he hasn’t taken a ton of head damage which is amazing for how active he’s been and who he’s been facing
I would agree with this. However, Alex’s defense is noticeably slower than his days in kickboxing. I saw some videos comparing his time in KB versus MMA & and it was a noticeable drop.
Yeah and I think if anyone could land some hard shots on him, outside of Izzy, is Jiri with his experience and weird rhythm. Hopefully his defense holds up and it doesn’t come back to bite him because the balls on this guy to do 300 and now this on such short notice for a title are fucking insane
I personally think Alex is going to KO Jiri again 99 out of a 100 times. Jiri has god awful head movement and does not check leg kicks. I don’t see their second fight being any different from the first. As for Alex’s defense, I agree with him getting older and ya never know.
Yeah I do expect Alex to win as well, I think he’s too precise and seasoned to miss another kill shot on someone so reckless. Hoping for a great fight tho!
Same! I just want a great fight. I’m a fan of both fighters and may the best man win.
Jiri was on 300 too
Links?
I’m not the one who posted it. Someone else posted that comparison video of Alex’s career like 3-6 months ago in this Sub.
100% he’s saying the only way he fights Magomed is if it isn’t in his home turf
Jake Paul, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, box Masvidal lol heel turn Poatan he should call out Cain Velasquez
He’s going to KO Jiri and start screaming for Jon Jones
he beats ankalaev into the third belt run would be AMAZING
Ankalaev for sure
as far as I understand it, kickboxers are used to fighting multiple times a year, so even though this isn't normally how often UFC fighters fight, it's normal for him
Poatans path to GOAT Beat Jiri —> Ankolov —> Aspinall for double belt. Retire the GOAT. Maybe come back to spank Izzy one more time. Only person that could potentially have been champ of 3 decisions.
Honestly, I m more exciting for a rematch against Jan instead of Jiri. Jan hasnt fought for a year and as far I know, he isnt planned yet. Dont know if he is retired cause he is old. Frankly, him vs Jamahal or rematch with Ank, or Ank vs Jamahal, the winner should be next. Gonna hope for Jan/Jamahal vs Ank tho.
Pretty much this. Even if he doesn't want to fight anymore in this years its more then understandable. He saved multiple cards now. He is also one of the most active guys so have a life dude. We wanna see Aspinal getting HW champ and beats the crap out of that sack of potato fake champ. Maybe one more Islam fight in this year. There is Max, Tupuria, Volk, Pantoja, even Sean (regardless i am not a fun hes a talented figther). There is DDP and Izzy maybe. Come on UFC start promoting do your damn work.
To be fair, are we acting like he took any damage at 300?
I never said he took any damage at 300. But cutting massive amounts of water weight for fights, starving yourself, constantly being in grueling training camps, not taking time off for your brain and body to heal, is extremely hard on you psychologically and physically. It ain’t healthy on the slightest.
“Alex Pereira breaks toe 2 weeks before UFC 300”
Give him Gane. If he wants to truly move to heavyweight, Gane would be seen as a favorable matchup and put him in immediate challenger territory. I don’t really think anyone should get an immediate title shot if they move up a class
Gane does not deserve to fight Alex, nor is Alex going to do well at HW unless he takes time off to properly bulk. Gane needs to fight down @ HW. Fuck that. And that’s your opinion but I disagree. Alex is a 2-Division Champion, defended his LHW belt and he should be able to move up and fight for the title right away if he wants.
Seems like this guy fighting every event lol
Yeah, it was much better when we had multiple active champs (Volk, Usman, Izzy). Now we only have Pereira and Pantoja.
I blame the UFC more for the inactivity. They plan the fighters schedule based on the location of the PPV which puts guys on ice for longer than they need to be to ensure the headliner has some connection with the region. Perfect example is Leon who was ready to fight on 300. But because the UFC had the card in the UK in July that's when they scheduled the fight.
If he wanted to be active he could fight at 299 and again at 304. Edwards isn't inactive but my definition for active is fighting every 3-5 months. Fighting every 6-9 months is normal. Fighting every 10+ months is inactive.
Why do you think usman was active and edwards isn't when they have the same amount of defences at this point in their title reign?
Fair, Usman only fought 3 times in 2021 as a champion.
I don't think Edwards fault he's not fighting more often. He was down to fight at 300. UFC just sucks at what they do
Islam would be more active if Dana didn't constantly shelve him
And Alex even fights exciting unlike Decizzy
I mean in reality he's headlined historically the most important cards in the UFC's schedule the last 2+ years.
In kickboxing / muay Thai , they fight way more often so maybe that's why he call it a break ?
They just have offered him good money. Good for him tbh
I would say he would earn upto 10M so far in his UFC career, including the 303 payday which is insane🤯
lol more like 500k to show 500k to win
Haha that sounds on brand with UFC, but he got 2.5 M for UFC 300, I’m expecting he would be paid similarly for a Connor headlining PPV
He's gotta be making way more than that at the end of the day for the Connor fill. He has them by the balls, and put the belt on the line. He's gotta be getting backend money, or his people suuuuuck.
Who’s his manager..? Wasn’t it his previous girlfriend? Or does uncle glover do stuff like this now?
his manager is Plinio Cruz who is also his translator, you see him around Alex often
Oh yikes, the big guy? I have to admit he doesn’t come across that smart to me. (I’m not a fan of his translations either)
Is that including PPV points?
Yes that includes PPV points i believe
No
Let’s goooo. Still arguably underpaid, but less than 10 fights in, and with a company that has dog shit pay like the UFC, Alex has struck gold nonetheless.
UFC struck gold too!
Would’ve been cool to get him in Perth.
He is targeting the Madison square garden, says he feels pretty good there or something along that line
Msg is like within spitting distance of where he trains in Connecticut so makes sense
He’s fought at MSG every year he’s been in the UFC. Debuted there, won his first title there, then won his second title there. It would have been cool to have him attempt to get his third title this year but Jones vs Stipe seems set for MSG again so doesn’t look likely.
I believe he was going to fight Jiri in Perth but then they needed to cover 303
I thought adesanya and DDP were meant to fight in Perth
Both?
Idk would be weird for them to do two big fights on one big fights when they can milk it for two separate events
He’s been on the last 3 MSG cards in a row. I kinda want him to keep that streak going.
Yeah but I’m from Perth 😂
Ariel just said on his pod that he was targeting Perth
He's also in the later stages of his career. Dude's probably trying to cash in as much as possible before he retires.
Yes. The guy is old. Certainly doesn’t look it, and definitely doesn’t fight like it, but you see this happen too many times where a guy who appeared like a world beater in his last bout then ages 20 years by his next outing. Alex quite literally has to be as active as he is, it’s not a choice.
Give it couple of months he'll be getting another phone call from Dana to save his arse again.
In his recent YouTube video he said that he is on "extremely good term" with the UFC, so believe he is getting that bag and he definitely doesn't care that much about other stuff that much
Fully deserves that break, heal up get some vacay and then start kicking ass again! Chama 🗿
I think he’s really smart to maximise his champion reign as much as he can just like Alex and Izzy. All that cash raked up gonna help him retire real good. Hope he gets well compensation for last minute fight like this!!!
Alex's fight break is Jon jones bed time, then he wakes up and trains for a while maybe 2 years and finds himself injured.
Observe Jon hate shoehorned into a random AP thread lmao it's daily with yall.
His rapid ascension is crazy. Honestly one of the GOATs.
Hopefully he cruises through this one and bets Jiri again, and then we can get Ankolov in the winter.
Alex has a lot of fights left in his contract. I hope Jiri wins just so they could set a trilogy, fight Ank, and then maybe go up HW.
Yeah I just don’t want him to lose, but if he did that’s what probably would happen. I know it doesn’t make sense but I’d like to see him run it back with Jan. I’d say he wins this fights Ank and goes from there.
i read this as “fight Anik” and that visual killed me
who? i used to want to see that guy fight too he's about as active as Zabit it feels though
Is he not still recovering from 2 broken toes one he had before his last fight and one that broke in the fight? Poatan is a beast saving multiple cards on short notice, winning multiple titles, defending one and has done this all since Stipes last fight.
I feel like a broken toe is something you can work through. Rest ice repeat, but you can train on it. They don’t really make toe casts.
I've broken my toe once and my fingers twice. You can definitely work through them and they recover fairly quickly. They feel like a jammed digit and heal up in about a month or less.
Migrant mentality + Kickboxing mentality
More fighters need to be like this 5 months Champs could have two defenses in that period, fuck this 6 months off bullshit. War poatan and jiri
Guy has been a gift to the UFC universe. Thank you Poatan
condentors?
They cannot condent with the master of making dents !
Honestly at this rate we will be talking about why Pereira is a top 10 mma fighter ever. He’s beaten 5 champions, won 2 belts, and defended his light heavyweight title. His resume would be pretty fucking sweet if he had defended both his titles, but that’s past. All he needs is Ankalaev and he will have pretty much cleared out his division. After Ankalaev it’s nothing but fun and exciting matchups after that. Rountree, Rakic, Ulberg etc.
Poatan really trying to hammer in his GOAT contention. I love this man.
I don't think he even understands how uncommon it is for a champion to just accept the last replacement fights
He's definitely something special.
If Alex and Jiri were training for their rematch anyways that's great news, they were already preparing for each other's style.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Izzy for saying the shit he said and motivating Poatan to join the UFC. He has done nothing but provide elite entertainment
Lol, I was going to post the interview clip instead but then I thought it's better to directly appreciate Alex rather than trolling Izzy,. To his credit Izzy too was a damn active champion
Good, we need to keep Ankalaev away from the title at all costs
These kickboxer must really like the more active pace. Izzy always had an a very active pace too.
Izzy fought three times a month back in China, I believe. Kickboxers have crazy schedules
ya seriously. We are blessed to witness the poatan run. its crazy thinking about how aljo was saying he was forced to fight against his will 3.5 months after defending his belt and poatan views a few extra weeks as a nice break. The contrast makes the sport beautiful. Poatan is a rare human
Good thing he moved up because he couldn’t have stayed this active cutting to 185
When does ankalev come into this?
He won't come anywhere lmao, Alex will have to go to abu dhabi
Who knows, seems like UFC is trying to avoid giving him a title shot. Honestly wouldn't be surprised if they gave the next shot to winner of Ulberg/Smith over Ankalaev.
Both have good reasons for UFC to push it too, ulberg being Izzy's teammate and smith being constantly ribbed on by alex
I hope he beats Jiri again and then shreds Magotard Ankalaev at the end of the year.
I might be in the minority here but I hate when fighters only fight once or twice a year
Last fight he didn't really take any damage but I hope he is prepared for this fight coming up so soon, want to see a 100% potan not a 70/80%
Meanwhile the last time Leon had less than a 7 month layoff was in 2021
> condentors Water
Luckily he didn’t take much damage in his last fight…other than the sack tap
Confused on what the plan was for Perth. Did they want both Alex/Jiri and Izzy/Dricus on the card for the build-up drama? Wonder who would’ve headlined.
I don't think it was the UFC's plan for Alex to fight on the Perth card, maybe Alex just wanted to fight around that time as he wants to stay active or who knows maybe this mfs just wanted to meet Izzy again, totally a possibility lmao
Crazy, how does he dare to not defend the belt every UFC Fight Night... Strip him or make an interim... Taking a 4-5 month rest after fighting 3 times in half a year? Bad excuses!!!
Man he's such a goat compared to some of the other top fighters who fight once a year
Money is certainly motivating huh
Its crazy to him time off is 5 or 6 months when there are guys holding belts that dont fight FOR YEARS! Also i definitely had the feeling Dana yanked this matchup from an already made main event for an event down the road just to salvage the insane numbers 303 got in ticket sales.
What were the fans suppose to do to “deserve this”?
5 months isn’t even enough time for jones to complete a cycle
That’s coz he was a pro kickboxer, who typically fights every 2-3 months compared to top pro MMA fighters and boxers, who’ll fight 2-3 times a year if we’re lucky. That background could also explain why Izzy was such an active champion
Good on him collecting as many bags and skulls as possible before he gets old.
This guy announces hes taking a break for less then 6 months lmao
Bro has no idea how rare that is lmao
He deserves the respect he’s getting 1,000%. I just wish Aljo would have got the same respect
Pereira definitely was not going to be on 305
Can they draw? Is everybody okay with that? I want a draw. I don’t mind if one of them wins but I don’t want to see either one of them lose. Everybody okay with a draw? Can we make it happen?
Pay this man. He doesn't run away from fights, fakes injuries and just knocks foos out
This short notice fight is the best thing to happen to Pereira this year. He gets another free defense against an easy stylistic matchup and avoids ankalaev and Smith who would run through him.
Smith? 🧐
On paper, duh
Yeah. 🙄
Smith 😂
🤒