"Getting all the attention because of Izzy" - Fans debate whether Alex Pereira has earned potential Hall-of-Fame status within 2 years of joining UFC
UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has already become a two-division titleholder in the promotion after just seven fights in the octagon.
His mixed martial arts career is just 11 fights old and he made his UFC debut in 2021. He went on to win the middleweight championship in 2022 at UFC 281.
Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) discussed whether his accomplishments warrant Hall of Fame status.
Many fans presented his various accomplishments as reasons enough to get him a place in the UFC Hall of Fame:
"He’s a champ-champ. He’s beaten 4 current or former champs in his last 5 fights. Knocked out 3. Obviously he’s HOF material."
"He’s beaten 4 champions in like 6 fights. And won 2 belts in 2 years. Yea he’s HOF."
"No, not just yet. I think 2-3 more solid wins will give him a very strong case though but only 11 wins in his MMA career so far is holding him back"
A few fans vehemently disagreed with the notion and cited his long-standing feud with Israel Adesanya as the reason for his popularity and title shots:
"Rubbish idea, someone with zero title defense"
"No, he is not. He's only here and getting all the attention because of Izzy."
Check out fan opinions on Alex Pereira in the screenshots below:
Joe Rogan lauds Alex Pereira as a technical fighter
UFC commentator Joe Rogan recently discussed Alex Pereira's technical ability in contrast with his fearsome reputation of being a power hitter.
Rogan stated that 'Poatan' is not solely a power hitter but rather a technically astute and organized fighter. In a recent episode of Fight Companion, Rogan said:
"This f*****g guy is terrifying. He was just different. The power was different, the style was different. Weird style, hands down, weird movement. Super technical, man. Like confusing. 'He just hits hard', negative, incorrect. Completely unique style, very technical and very well thought out. He's got solutions to everything."
Rogan narrated how Pereira showed him and Daniel Cormier his strategy to check leg kicks:
"He was showing me and DC how he checks leg kicks and we had a conversation about it, 'Can we tell people this?', me and DC did. We decided, I don't think we should tell people. He's got a special way that he checks leg kicks and it's different than everybody else's, he's got a whole strategy behind it. He's showing us how he checks and what he does to follow up checks, he's got a system man."
Check out Joe Rogan's full comments below (1:10):