Alex Pereira is a special fighter. ‘Poatan’, after becoming the first and only concurrent two-division champion at the kickboxing promotion Glory FC, has speedrun the UFC. In only his fourth fight at the world’s toughest, most competitive MMA promotion, he would defeat arch-nemesis Israel Adesanya at UFC 281 to become the middleweight champion.

Three fights later, he was the light heavyweight champion and defended his 205-pound title at the UFC 300 marquee anniversary mega-card. And Chael Sonnen thinks that all of this and a few other things have nearly made him the greatest mixed martial artist ever, surpassing even the likes of Jon Jones and Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Why Chael Sonnen thinks Alex Pereira is about to become the greatest ever

Verbose UFC analyst and former superstar Chael Sonnen, in a video on his YouTube channel, has made the explosive claim that Alex Pereira is “one win away from being the GOAT.” And it was so clear to Sonnen that this was the case that he felt that not only was ‘Poatan’ on his way to being the greatest ever but also “ending our ability to even discuss it.”

‘The Bad Guy’ felt that given all of Pereira’s ‘jaw-dropping’ achievements in his combat sports career, which include being a two-division champ in two promotions in two different sports, combined with the Brazilian having become the go-to guy whenever the UFC was in trouble and him being a leader, that was what put him on the cusp of becoming the GOAT.

“I mean are you hearing what I’m saying? And now when we’re in trouble who do we turn to? Him. So now you got a guy that’s got this remarkable career. You’ve got a guy that’s done things that defy everything. You’re just left with your jaw dropped. What is happening here? And he’s a leader in the locker room. What? How did this happen? How did you guys let this happen?”

When we were in trouble at UFC 300, there was one Champion that offered, only one Champion came out publicly and tried to get that main event spot. And it was him. And now as soon as we’re in trouble at 303, who do they turn to? The same guy. The new guy, the unexpected guy,” he said.

‘Uncle Chael’ observed that when Dana White and co. were scrambling to put together a blockbuster main event for UFC 300 in April, it was Pereira who put his name in the hat. And again, after Conor McGregor pulled out of the upcoming June 29 UFC 303 card, which is already the highest-grossing gate event in the promotion’s history, Pereira swooped in to prevent a catastrophe and help the promotion save face. But Sonnen thinks ‘Poatan’ is facing the wrong opponent on the June 29 card.

Sonnen thinks Pereira should fight ‘Lionheart’ at UFC 303

Alex Pereira will rematch former champion Jiri Prochazka in the main event of UFC 303 after Conor McGregor pulled out of his fight against Michael Chandler due to an injury. However, Chael Sonnen agreed with the sentiments of a large section of UFC fans, who are not happy at the promotion booking the duo to fight so soon after their first UFC 295 encounter barely seven months ago.

Many feel that ‘Poatan’ should fight the only person in the top-5 of the light heavyweight division not coming off a loss or having lost to Pereira already, Magomed Ankalaev, for his second title defense. Sonnen, however, thought that Pereira should instead have fought Anthony ‘Lionheart’ Smith, who has recently been feuding with the light heavyweight champ, having dissed Pereira as essentially a one-dimensional fighter. While Smith is scheduled to fight Carlos Ulberg on the same card, in the co-main event, ‘Uncle Chael’ feels that he should have been booked to fight ‘Poatan’ in the main event instead.

“And I believe that we’ve got all the right players on this card. Now I’m just not convinced of the order I feel as though Lionheart-Pereira was the fight to make,” Sonnen said in the same video. What are your thoughts on Chael Sonnen’s claims about Pereira being one fight away from being the GOAT?