What will it take to halt Alex Pereira’s steamrolling of the UFC’s light-heavyweight division? ‘Poatan’ recently made the second defense of his 205 lbs. crown against former champion, Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303. A short-notice rematch between them had to be set up due to Conor McGregor’s withdrawal from the event and Pereira continued his reign atop the division by finishing Prochazka with a vicious head kick and follow-up strikes moments into the start of the second round.

During a recent conversation with Joe Rogan on the JRE MMA Show no.159, former UFC light-heavyweight champion, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson revealed that he has considered what a fight between him in his prime and Pereira would have been like. But according to Rogan, there’s a certain style of fighter that ‘Poatan’ has yet to be tested against inside the Octagon!  

Joe Rogan and ‘Rampage’ examine the gaps in Alex Pereira’s game

The discussion between Joe Rogan and ‘Rampage’ Jackson began when the podcast host asked Jackson if he had watched Alex Pereira dismantle Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303. The former UFC and PRIDE star enthusiastically responded, “Oh my god yeah.” The conversation then quickly shifted to Pereira’s incredible knockout power. “Poatan, man, Alex Pereira, that f**king power is nuts,” Rogan exclaimed.

But ‘Rampage’ then brought up an interesting point and invited Rogan to chime in by stating, “You know what I was thinking, like how would I have done if I was in my prime fighting somebody like that. You could be honest.” As such, Rogan elaborated on his thoughts by sharing, “You have very good wrestling skills, that’s the difference is you’re very strong. You were always a very strong light heavyweight and you had very good wrestling skills” and pointed out that Alex Pereira’s has yet to face an elite wrestler inside the Octagon in his UFC run so far.

The UFC color commentator also went on to examine Pereira’s recent opponent, Jiri Prochazka as he stated, “Prochazka, is like a, he’s got crazy KO power, he’s got good karate skills and he did win by choking out Glover, he did win with a choke…” but still falls short when compared to former ‘champ-champ’ Daniel Cormier’s wrestling pedigree.

A bit further into the conversation, ‘Rampage’ mentioned that if were to face Alex Pereira during the UFC 71 era in 2007 when he beat Chuck Liddell for the light heavyweight title, “I probably wouldn’t have tried to take Alex down. I probably would have tried (to stand up) until he start f**king me up, then like oh sh*t, then it’s time to take him down.”

This conversation highlighted the fact that ‘Poatan’s striking skills inside the Octagon are so far beyond many other challengers that the only path to victory against him appears to be a wrestling heavy-game plan.  But a quick look at the UFC’s rankings for light heavyweight shows that the no.2 ranked contender, Magomed Ankalaev may be the only one with a strong enough wrestling background to threaten Pereira. However, Ankalaev has recently made a bold statement about the outcome of his potential clash against ‘Poatan’!

Pereira receives a warning from LHW contender 

Magomed Ankalaev fought for the light-heavyweight title when he took on Jan Blachowicz for the vacant 205 lbs. belt at UFC 282 in 2022. Since then, he has gone on to KO Johnny Walker after their first fight at UFC 294 in 2023 ended in a no-contest via an illegal knee. Now, holding the no.2 spot in the division and Alex Pereira looking for a new challenger, Ankalaev recently made a bold proclamation about his intentions when he steps into the cage against the Brazilian.

In a post made on X, Ankalaev stated, “I will knock him out. @Mickmaynard2@danawhite nothing better than you’ve seen an event somebody going to sleep” and he preceded his statement by claiming that the UFC has been keeping Pereira away from him “…for a reason”

With his wrestling threat and confidence in his knockout power, Ankalaev has poised himself as a unique threat to Pereira’s reign. It remains to be seen when the clash between these two titans will be set up by the UFC but it has the potential to test Pereira’s capabilities inside the Octagon. Do you think Alex Pereira can handle the pressure of an elite wrestler? Why or Why not? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!