Brendan Schaub reveals toughest matchup for Alex Pereira in the UFC middleweight division
Brendan Schaub revealed who he believes could be Alex Pereira's toughest matchup.
Pereira recently captured the UFC middleweight title against long-time rival Israel Adesanya. As things stand, it's likely that Adesanya will get an immediate rematch sometime in 2023.
If Schaub can have his way, however, he revealed that he wants to see Pereira fight rising star Khamzat Chimaev. Schaub believes that Chimaev presents the toughest challenge to the newly-minted champion. During an episode of his podcast, the former UFC heavyweight said:
"I hope Khamzat gets his way. [But] I don't think the UFC. But we could still do an Izzy-Pereira fight no matter what, even if Pereira has the belt or not. But yeah, Khamzat would be a handful for Pereira. Hopefully, they do it."
Catch Brendan Schaub's comments in the clip below:
The only problem with the scenario, according to Schaub, is that it could take away from the eventual rematch between Pereira and Adesanya. Then again, the retired fighter suggested that the rematch could take place with or without the title on the line.
Alex Pereira tells Israel Adesanya to stop making excuses
Alex Pereira is now 3-0 against Israel Adesanya after three meetings across two different sports. Unfortunately, for Adesanya, he came extremely close to beating Pereira twice, but the Brazilian ultimately found ways to bail himself out during both instances.
In the aftermath of UFC 281, Adesanya initially protested the stoppage, claiming referee Marc Goddard didn't give him enough time to recover. He even joked that the UFC should bring back Steve Mazzagatti – a former referee who was notorious for letting fights go on for too long.
Needless to say, Pereira was unhappy with Adesanya's complaints. In a lengthy Instagram post, 'Poatan' wrote:
“Adesanya, stop making excuses saying the referee stopped the fight early… you have to thank him for saving your life. The way you were with your head down looking at the ground, I only needed one or two more hits to connect a good knee to your face so we wouldn’t know the outcome."
Check out Alex Pereira's post below:
Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman disagreed with his star pupil's sentiments. The City Kickboxing patriarch believes the stoppage was good as it saved Adesanya from taking on unnecessary damage.