Former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones believes he knows exactly how a fight with Alex Pereira would end, and in his mind, it wouldn’t take long.
While MMA fans have spent years debating a potential superfight between Jon Jones and Pereira, the matchup appears unlikely to happen anytime soon. Jones is currently retired, and Pereira is coming off a recent setback in his heavyweight ambitions. Still, that hasn’t stopped Jones from sharing his thoughts on how he would have handled the dangerous Brazilian inside the Octagon.
During a recent interview with ALF Global, Jon Jones explained why he believes Pereira would have struggled against him in a mixed martial arts fight.
“I watched Pereira train,” Jones said. “I see his level of wrestling and it’s way behind. I feel as if Stipe Miocic is a true heavyweight. He’s a big, big boy. Ciryl Gane, when you see him in person, he’s a big, big boy. Alex Pereira is not a big, big boy. He’s a lean guy. I think right now he weighs maybe 250.”
Jones acknowledged Pereira’s striking credentials but insisted that his grappling advantage would have been the deciding factor.
“I feel as if my physical strength would have been too much for him,” Jones continued. “I felt as if the moment I would have gotten him to the ground, my submissions would have come pretty quickly. I mean, everyone knows that. I think that’s the clearest path to victory for me against Alex Pereira. But we’re not fighting. I am a fan of him. I support him, and I want to see him do well.”
The comments were recorded before Pereira’s interim heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane. Pereira later suffered a second-round knockout loss, putting any potential showdown with Jones even further out of reach.
Despite that, many fans still view a clash between Jon Jones and Pereira as one of the biggest “what if” fights in modern MMA history. It would have matched one of the sport’s greatest champions against one of its most feared knockout artists.
