Light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is quickly becoming a rising star in the MMA world but still seeks to solidify his old glory.
The Brazilian fighter made an interesting post about dropping to the middleweight division–where he was a former champion—to battle Du Plessis. A lot of fans may be willing to watch this bout, but Michael Bisping has a different opinion. Bisping believes the idea is a bad one.
“I don’t like it. Simple as that,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel. “Maybe Alex Pereira’s just messing around because even though he’s a serious son of a b*tch, he’s got a sense of humor. He’s very stoic, but I’m telling you, he’s a sarcastic guy and I get it. Maybe he’s trolling, but maybe he’s not. Maybe he’s trying to make the most money he can, take on the toughest opponents, and retire with millions and millions and millions of dollars in the bank. He’s probably going to do that anyway, but still.”
“He’s got people to fight already.” Bisping said. “He’s fighting Khalil Rountree. You cannot look past ‘Killer’ Khalil Rountree. He’s the kickboxer killer. He really is. Think about this: He beat Gokhan Saki, very good kickboxer that came to MMA. Dustin Jacoby, very good Glory Kickboxer that came to MMA. Could he do the same to Alex Pereira? I don’t know. It’s a tough ask, but I tell you what, don’t underestimate the man.”
“After that [if he wins], he’s gotta fight Magomed Ankalaev. He ain’t happy about this. He’s going absolutely mental online. … He might have a point. We want to see great champions — and Alex Pereira is a great champion make no mistake — we want to see them take on all comers in their division. Also, prove that they can beat all these different types of styles. Magomed Ankalaev on paper is a very, very tough stylistic matchup because of the Dagestani wrestling. If you look at Pereira, he’s had kind of a favorable path. I’m not talking sh*t, I’m just talking facts.”
Bisping agrees that the motive may be to build that matchup, but he doesn’t think the fight should ever happen. The fight is still pretty much a smoke show as Du Plessis is set to battle Sean Strickland in his next title defense
“If Pereira can’t take the best shot from ‘Izzy’ at 185, he probably can’t take the best shot from Dricus at 185 either,” Bisping said. “It means the stock’s gonna drop, simple as that, and it’s going to affect his buying power going forward. Just going down to 185 doesn’t make the most sense for him. Been there, done it, got the T-shirt.
“Go to heavyweight if you truly want to become a three-division champion. What an achievement that would be.”
Pereira’s next defense is lined up against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 307 on Oct. 5. After that, there’s a ready and waiting Magomed Ankalaev in — or atop — the contender line, assuming he can get through Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308 at the end of October.
