Stephen A. Smith shares definitive prediction for potential Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira showdown: "He won't throw a punch"
Stephan A. Smith recently shared his prediction for a hypothetical Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira showdown and strongly believes it would be a relatively easy win for the heavyweight champion. He noted that 'Bones' would immediately attack the Brazilian's weakness rather than standing and trading strikes with him.
Smith has never been one to shy away from sharing his opinion and didn't hold back with his assessment for the hypothetical champion vs. champion bout. Although his opinions usually focus on the NBA and NFL, he has kept an eye on the UFC's rise on ESPN and occasionally shared his thoughts on several bouts.
Championship Rounds tweeted a clip from yesterday's episode of ESPN's, 'First Take', which shows Smith discussing Jones vs. Pereira with Daniel Cormier after the Hall of Famer pitched the hypothetical matchup. The host mentioned that he doesn't believe 'Poatan' would last too long against 'Bones', who he considers the greatest of all time. He said:
"Stop it!...Let me tell this to both of y'all, Jon 'Bones' Jones is the greatest ever in my opinion...He will take [Alex] Pereira out inside of two rounds. And you know what, he won't throw a punch...He ain't trying to sit up there and box and strike...I'm telling you right now, [Jones] will take [Pereira] out."
Check out Stephen A. Smith's comments about Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira below:
Alex Pereira expressed interest in moving to heavyweight
The idea of Alex Pereira moving up to possibly fight Jon Jones isn't too far-fetched as 'Bones' had even claimed that a bout against the Brazilian would be bigger than one against Tom Aspinall.
During his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan following his impressive knockout win over Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, Pereira mentioned he'd like to remain active and expressed interest in moving up to heavyweight for a bout. He said:
"I wanna keep continuing defending this [light heavyweight] belt. I talked a lot about fighting in Brazil if I won this fight. I won this fight, I'm not hurt, nothing happened. You know, I know there needs to be a lot of promotion behind a fight but I want to have a fight at heavyweight."
Check out Alex Pereira's post-fight interview below: