Georges St-Pierre discusses what he believes Alex Pereira needs to do before moving to heavyweight: "He needs to answer that"
Georges St-Pierre recently weighed in on Alex Pereira's potential future move to heavyweight and what the Brazilian should consider before committing to the move up. He discussed 'Poatan's incredible run so far and highlighted a specific question that needs to be answered before his time at 205 pounds is over.
The reigning light heavyweight champion has had a meteoric rise to superstardom and has quickly amassed a Hall of Fame worthy resume since joining the promotion. He successfully retained his title in two short notice bouts despite being injured and hinted at a future move to heavyweight in an attempt to become the first three-division UFC champion.
While speaking to Covers, the UFC Hall of Famer shared his thoughts on 'Poatan's performances and noted that he has done an excellent job against strikers. St-Pierre believes that Pereira needs to prove himself against a high-level grappler or wrestler before moving up because of the skillset of the top heavyweights. He said:
"I think Alex Pereira is the best striker the light heavyweight division has ever seen. It's just incredible. But the question is how would he pair up against a guy who's more of a wrestler? A guy who's gonna try to bring the fight to the ground?...He needs to answer that before trying to go up... because in heavyweight, you have Tom Aspinall...Jon Jones, these guys are very good wrestlers." [0:55 - 1:27]
Check out the full interview with Georges St-Pierre below:
Georges St-Pierre believes fighting a grappler would benefit Alex Pereira
Georges St-Pierre believes that Alex Pereira can benefit greatly from fighting a grappler in his next UFC light heavyweight title defense.
'Poatan' has done very well against opponents who are primarily strikers, however, it appears as though his next title defense could be against Magomed Ankalaev, who is a grappler. During the aforementioned interview, St-Pierre mentioned that he believes Pereira would be a lot more prepared and confident moving up to heavyweight should he defeat a high-level grappler. He said:
"That's what I would like to see him do. In his division as a light heavyweight, trying to beat a guy who's trying to take him down. See how he will perform and if he does great, now try to go for a heavyweight. I think that will prepare him for what is to come in heavyweight." [1:45 - 2:08]
Check out Alex Pereira's most recent win over Jiri Prochazka below: