Former UFC middleweight champion and current light heavyweight king Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira has long teased that he will end his MMA career with another title run – this time at heavyweight.
Ahead of his own return to action later this evening on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Albazi, #15 ranked heavyweight Rodrigo Nascimento has explained why he wouldn’t be surprised if his division soon had a new champion.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images Rodrigo Nascimento believes Alex Pereira will find major success at heavyweight
Throughout his already-insane UFC tenure, Alex Pereira has repeatedly stated that he’ll one day make the highly-anticipated move up to heavyweight in the hopes of becoming a three-weight world champion.
Whilst there’s no doubt that Pereira would be the favored fighter against the vast majority of the Top 15, the Brazilian superstar would likely be the underdog against either interim champion Tom Aspinall or undisputed champion Jon Jones.
Speaking with MMA Fighting, #15 ranked Rodrigo Nascimento claimed that Pereira would not only find similar success at heavyweight as he has 185lbs and 205lbs, but that he has all the skills needed to best Aspinall and ‘maybe’ even Jones.
“Once you’re over 205 pounds, it’s all the same – that’s why Alex is willing to move up. You have heavyweight strength already when you’re over 205lbs, [there’s] no doubt about it.”
“I don’t think there are many good wrestlers in the division to take ‘Poatan’ down, and the fight starts on the feet. He has good distance, he’s extremely experienced on the feet… I’m sure he’s training on the ground with Glover [Teixeira]. I think he will do well in this division.”
Whilst Nascimento noted that those heavyweights with excellent grappling skills “could be a bad fight” for the stone-faced knockout artist, he still believes that should one of the two superfights eventually come together, Pereira would still come out on top.
“I think ‘Poatan’ can definitely beat Tom Aspinall, and maybe Jon Jones too… If this Jon Jones fight happens, he can be very dangerous in the first rounds.
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“Jon Jones is [as] spectacular as [Pereira] is, but I think he can beat the interim champion… The worst fight for him without a doubt is Jon Jones.”
#15 ranked Nascimento returns to action tonight at UFC Fight Night Edmonton
Nascimento is actually back in action in just a few hours’ time when he takes on Moldova’s Alexandr Romanov on the preliminary card of UFC Fight Night: Moreno vs Albazi in Edmonton, Canada.
The Brazilian had been on an impressive three-fight winning streak, all three being by decision, before suffering a brutal third-round knockout loss to Derrick ‘The Black Beast’ Lewis back in May of this year.
#13 ranked Romanov has also had a tough time of late, having bounced back from consecutive defeats with a solid decision victory over Blagoy Ivanov before being submitted in the very first round against Jailton Almeida at UFC 302 in June.
The heavyweights clash on the prelims of tonight’s event in Edmonton; an event which will be written into the history books as the first to include the two new rule changes.
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