The world of mixed martial arts has been speculating about Alex Pereira‘s wrestling skills for a long time now. Fight fans have often wanted to watch the Brazilian fighter go against a grappler and see how he fares against him. Even though the fighter with the hands of stone has challenged Anthony Smith, one of the strongest grapplers in the UFC, to a five-minute grappling bout with prize money of $50,000, the lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev, was doubtful of Pereira’s skills. 

Talking to Daniel Cormier, Makhachev seemed to believe that there were a few wrestlers who could take Pereira down within a minute. But now, the ‘Poatan’ has come up with an ultimatum to learn how to grapple as he fires a few shots at the Dagestani fighter. 

Alex Pereira responds to Islam Makhachev’s claims

Recently, Makhachev and Cormier were engaged in a conversation and kept the light heavyweight champion in focus. DC asked Makhachev to pick an Olympic champion to go against Pereira, with nothing but wrestling in their arsenals. Without wasting a moment, the Dagestani named a couple of names. He picked Abdulrashid Sadulaev and Akhmed Tazhudinov. The former heavyweight champion added Kyle Snyder to the list. But the shocker came when Makhachev claimed that Sadulaev could take down Pereira in just one minute, and the score would be 10-0 in the wrestler’s favor.

Immediately after, Cormier argued, Why hasn’t someone done that to Pereira already in the realm of mixed martial arts? But Makhachev had a response ready. He picked up Magomed Ankalaev and asked DC to send him against Pereira to see what happened. He said, “Put him on Ankalaev. Yes. Put him against Ankalaev.” 

Later, DC decided to show the video footage of his conversation with Makhachev to the ‘Poatan’. Needless to say, the Brazilian was ready to upgrade his skillsets. His translator said, “He [Pereira] can say one year, two years. But without the combat experience of wrestling. So, if you say two years, but he being able to rest through on a regular against guys who are not competition, one year.”

After a firm shake of hands with Cormier, Pereira took a jab at Makhachev. Through the translator, he said, “He says it’s not his fault that some guy takes longer to learn. He say Makhachev maybe learn, took way longer to learn wrestling. Same way the MMA. He learned it way faster… You gotta accept that he’s [Pereira] different.”

Talks about Ankalaev taking on Pereira have been going around the internet for quite a while now. Not too long ago, the Russian mixed martial artist also claimed that he could easily take down the ‘Poatan’. Let’s see what Ankalaev had to say.

Magomed Ankalaev dismisses ‘Poatan’ and ‘Denisa’ as strong opponents

Ankalaev has been calling out ‘Stone Hands’ for a fight. But instead of getting a fight against the Russian, Pereira found himself pitted against Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303 on short notice. Talking to UFC Russia, Ankalaev revealed his thoughts on the matchup. He predicted that if the fight between Prochazka and Pereira lasted for a longer time, the former would claim the victory via decision. However, he picked Pereira to end the fight.

Surprisingly, when it came to the question of who Ankalaev wanted to fight, he dismissed both of the fighters and took aim at the championship belt. He said, “I don’t care anymore who I will fight with. I want to fight for the belt. And neither one nor the other can’t compete with me.” Without a doubt, the #2 LHW fighter was full of confidence with his superior skills in taking fights to the ground.

Do you think Pereira can out wrestle Ankalaev after training for a year? Let us know what you think in the comments below.