Chris Weidman isn’t solely bought on Alex Pereira when he sees a gaping gap in his wrestling.
Gentle heavyweight champion Pereira (10-2 MMA, 7-1 UFC) is recent off his first title protection – a first-round knockout of Jamahal Hill within the UFC 300 fundamental occasion.
In lower than three years with the UFC, Pereira already has captured titles in two weight divisions and even is considering a future transfer to heavyweight. Weidman thinks Pereira is one-dimensional and in contrast his lack of well-rounded abilities to Ben Askren, who dominated opposition together with his grappling.
“It’s exhausting for me to get totally behind Pereira as a result of I do see such a gap with the wrestling, and he hasn’t actually fought wrestlers,” Weidman mentioned on the “Imagine You Me” podcast. “It’s nearly so loopy, and it’s such a deficiency based mostly on what we’ve seen up to now. It’s nearly like Ben Askren coming into the UFC and with the ability to simply grow to be a multiple-time champion with no fingers.
“It’s like a striker taking a look at Ben Askren and pondering, ‘How the hell is that this man the world champion?’ He was in a position to do it in Bellator, he was in a position to do it (in ONE Championship). I imply, the man had an unbelievable MMA profession and he had no placing in any respect. … This man’s nearly the alternative. I’d nearly say he’s as dangerous (at) wrestling as Ben Askren is with placing.”
Like Daniel Cormier, Weidman is shocked with the quantity of success Pereira has been in a position to have with what he sees as a restricted talent set.
“This man could go down as probably the greatest fighters of all time,” Weidman mentioned. “It’s bizarre to see. I don’t know if it’s simply the matchups or the evolution of the game.”
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