Getty Israel Adesanya & Alex Pereira
Newly crowned UFC 185-pound champion Alex Pereira would lose his belt to Khamzat Chimaev, according to fighter-turned-analyst Brendan Schaub.
“Poatan” became the division’s king after taking out long-time champion Israel Adesanya via fifth-round TKO during their Madison Square Garden headliner at UFC 281 in New York City last weekend.
After the match, Chimaev — who is currently ranked No. 3 at welterweight but has competed three times above the 171-pound limit as a UFC fighter — took to Twitter to challenge Pereira for his strap. “Ready to fight in Brazil @AlexPereiraUFC let’s go champ,” Chimaev tweeted.
“Borz” also wrote that the fight was “easy money” and he’d finish Pereira in the first round.
Schaub Sees Pereira Having Difficulties With the Top-Five Middleweights, Chimaev
Well, Schaub also believes Chimaev, a man known for his overwhelming grappling game, would “beat the s***” out of Poatan — the former two-division Glory kickboxing champion. In fact, Schaub sees Pereira struggling with the entire middleweight top five.
“I’m not taking anything away from Alex, but again, I don’t think he beats a single guy in the top five,” Schaub said in a recent video on his YouTube channel. “Robert Whittaker — after he saw Izzy and Alex’s grappling and the wrestling, I’m sure every guy in the top five is like, ‘Dear God! Please give me that guy.’
“Because for those guys that can actually wrestle and they actually have not just one takedown but they have an arsenal, and they have chain wrestling and they have jiu-jitsu higher than a blue belt, they’re foaming at the d*** to get their hands on Alex Pereira.
“And the UFC knows this, and they’re going to protect him,” Schaub continued. “Like Khamzat tweeted out, ‘I’ll fight at 185. I’ll be your champ’ Now, if the UFC wanted Khamzat to be that big of a superstar ’70 and ’85, your next fight is gonna be Khamzat vs. Alex Pereira. Khamzat beats the s*** out of him. He mops the floor with him. Again, I’m not taking anything away from Alex, it’s all about matchups and styles and that’s a complete nightmare for him.”
Schaub Said Won’t UFC Won’t Pit Pereira Against Chimaev to Avoid Discrediting Adesanya’s Resume
Schaub continued with his take on Pereira’s next fight. Some in the MMA world have called for an instant rematch with Adesanya, however others want to see how Poatan would fair against other elite middleweights.
For Schaub, he doesn’t think the UFC would put Pereira against a wrestling phenom like Chimaev next. Why? Because Schaub believes if Poatan goes down easy and loses his belt, it could discredit Adesanya’s run as UFC champion.
“The UFC’s not going to do that because that discredits Izzy’s entire resume, right?” Schaub said. “Because then, if Izzy never gets that fourth fight — really the second fight in MMA which is all we care about — if he never gets that rematch against Alex, and then Alex fights anybody else and loses … they have to have him fight Izzy otherwise you’re never hearing from him again, I’ve got to be honest.”