Following his win over Magomedov Ankalaev at UFC 320, Alex Pereira continues to push for a super fight with heavyweight pound-for-pound king Jon Jones.
“Poatan” stunned fans at UFC 320 when he reclaimed the light heavyweight belt by dropping Ankalaev in just 80 seconds. The victory has Pereira riding high, and he’s intent on leaving a lasting mark in the MMA world by facing one of the greatest fighters in the sport’s history. Pereira had previously expressed interest in a super fight with Jones, and after defeating Ankalaev in their rematch, that matchup looks more possible than ever. However, UFC veteran Matt Brown doesn’t see it happening anytime soon.
“I want the competitive fight,” Matt Brown said on the latest episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer. “That goes exactly right into what I was saying. Do we want entertainment? What Alex and Jon is going to do is it’s going to have a ridiculous buildup. Everybody’s going to be pumped. There’s going to be people betting on Alex, just like when Conor [McGregor] went to fight Floyd [Mayweather] — like, ‘oh yeah, Conor’s got a chance!’ I think Alex has a better chance than Conor did against Floyd, by the way, but you get my point.
“The matchup is literally the nightmare matchup for Alex Pereira. Jon is as big, probably a little bit bigger than Alex. At heavyweight, certainly bigger. A million times better wrestler. There’s no way in hell Alex has wrestling at Jon Jones’ level at this point. Even if Jon Jones has been out partying for a year and just shows up to fight, he still wins that matchup.”
According to Matt Brown, current heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall poses a bigger threat to Jones. “Bones” was initially slated to face Aspinall after retaining his belt in a bout against Stipe Miocic, but he announced his retirement shortly afterward and has since remained in the spotlight. However, since the announcement of the UFC White House card, Jones revealed he would come out of retirement to fight on the White House lawn — though UFC CEO Dana White has yet to confirm if that will actually happen.
Nevertheless, Matt Brown believes if Jones returns, his next fight should be against Tom Aspinall.
“I still think he should fight Tom Aspinall. I don’t know which is really a bigger fight. I know Alex is a bigger star, but Jon Jones is big enough to carry whatever fight he comes back to. If it’s Tom Aspinall, he’s fighting for the heavyweight title now, and that makes it just as big of a fight as if he’s fighting Alex Pereira for the sake of it,” Brown said.
“If I’m the UFC, personally, I take the risk with Tom,” Matt Brown added. “If Tom loses, the heavyweight division already kind of sucks. He loses, it sucks a little more, and Jon Jones is so great that we can’t find a heavyweight to beat him either. But if Tom wins, it brings an entirely new spark to the heavyweight division. The heavyweights are the sellers. Every combat sport in history — people want to watch the heavyweights.
“If Tom’s able to go out and secure a victory, he becomes the baddest man on the planet. He’s also well-spoken, stays out of trouble, gets the job done, and he’s marketable. There’s more upside.”
Matt Brown understands that the goal of the UFC White House card is entertainment, but he believes a Pereira vs. Jones matchup might not be the spectacle many expect. For now, it’s unclear if Jones vs. Pereira will ever happen, though Dana White has hinted he may not book Jones again, given his history of unpredictability.
