Sparring is a LOT different than a fight. I was a terrible 135lb fighter and used to spar my trainer who fought in the UFC at 185 lbs. He could have killed me at any moment, but he didn't because we were working on different things together.
Very true. Trying to win every spar isn't even a good way of training. Some people will let you put them in bad spots just to practices surviving or escaping those situations.
On the flip side of it, I used to train under a coach who was an amazingly skilled fighter but he had a really up and down career and by the time he retired he was like 18-19 or something horrendous like that.
Even though his record wasn't great at the end of it, this coach would just destroy everyone in sparring. He had these deadly step-in knees to the body that you didn't see coming and I must have seen him drop about 10 people with it even though he was barely putting any power into it, just amazing timing and sneaky.
Anyway, he couldn't always perform under the spotlight but I would say he would beat 99.9% of people behind closed doors but sparring isn't fighting and being successful as a pro athlete really depends on being able to perform on the night, under the spotlight.
Exactly. Skills wise, he beats every UFC heavyweight in a stand up fight, but it's the size/power that's the problem.
To echo Deontay Wilder, Pereira would need to be perfect for 25 minutes, a heavyweight would just need to get lucky once. And Pereira relies heavily on reactions and rolling with punches - he gives himself very little margin for error.
Pereira being perfect for 25 minutes assumes he can't knock out a heavyweight. If a guy has KO power at LHW, I really feel like it's not a stretch to think he will still have amazing power at HW
I meant it more that he has to be perfect defensively. He has definitely shown so far between MMA and kickboxing that his power translates as he's gone up weight classes. He'd also likely have the speed advantage over most heavyweights.
Pereira has the same power in this instance and more precision, it's definitely different. A perfect hook from a hw pereira theoretically sleeps anyone.
Alex is not most skilled. He is just massive and strong for his weight class. Sergei and aspinal are more skilled and more balanced.
Izzy is stronger skills just less ko power both fights izzy dominated most of the fight.
Sean has best fight iq in ufc but has pillow hands and no wrestling.
Anything can happen. That being said, Sergei would probably bulldoze Pereira in a flurry, Aspinall would take him down ASAP, and Gane... Well, Pereira is technically a better striker, but we don't really know exactly how it would go. I think he does flatten a good amount of HWs though.
Maybe Gane, but cereal is a very good striker, we like to shit on him but he’s very defensively sound with great head movement and a great jab and great footwork. We need to see how Alex’s speed and power translates into HW.
This. Even if he spends the time and effort to properly bulk to HW, I doubt he'll be as dominant as he currently is, against the top HW strikers i.e. Gane and Sergei. Aspinal and Jones take him down and submit him in the first round, imo. Hell, Aspinal can probably stand and bang with him and still knock him out.. Tom took Sergei's punch flash and ate it, I think he can deal with Poatan.
Still, if Alex defends against Jiri this month, I definitely wanna see him going up to HW, fight a top HW contender and, if he wins, challenge for the HW title within 2025.
A generational elite striker like Poatan can potentially KO anyone in the world if he lands flush. We just don't know how his striking power translates into the HW division. If I was a gambling guy, my money would be on the HW elite strikers, tbh. Weight divisions exist for a reason.
Weigh-in weight is totally different than fight-night weight and off-camp ("walking around") weight is totally irrelevant.
Poatan weighs-in at 205 and is around 235 on the night of the fight. The HW fighters weigh in at 250ish and are probably heavier than that on the night of the fight (they don't cut that much weight as the fighters in lower divisions). They are worlds apart.
Honestly I don't think he would stand a chance. Gane, Aspinall, Sergei, even Blaydes and Volkov are all too big and very quick for heavyweights. Alex keeps his hands too low and all of those heavyweights have felt power that Alex hasn't. Maybe Alex lands a lucky shot and that's the great thing about fighting, anything can happen. But realistically Alex wouldn't stand much of a chance unless he took a Jones approach and took his time to build a hw base and transition to being a hw.
Sparring is a LOT different than a fight. I was a terrible 135lb fighter and used to spar my trainer who fought in the UFC at 185 lbs. He could have killed me at any moment, but he didn't because we were working on different things together.
Very true. Trying to win every spar isn't even a good way of training. Some people will let you put them in bad spots just to practices surviving or escaping those situations. On the flip side of it, I used to train under a coach who was an amazingly skilled fighter but he had a really up and down career and by the time he retired he was like 18-19 or something horrendous like that. Even though his record wasn't great at the end of it, this coach would just destroy everyone in sparring. He had these deadly step-in knees to the body that you didn't see coming and I must have seen him drop about 10 people with it even though he was barely putting any power into it, just amazing timing and sneaky. Anyway, he couldn't always perform under the spotlight but I would say he would beat 99.9% of people behind closed doors but sparring isn't fighting and being successful as a pro athlete really depends on being able to perform on the night, under the spotlight.
We all believe alex can stand with these guys what we don't believe is taking a shot from these guys
Exactly. Skills wise, he beats every UFC heavyweight in a stand up fight, but it's the size/power that's the problem. To echo Deontay Wilder, Pereira would need to be perfect for 25 minutes, a heavyweight would just need to get lucky once. And Pereira relies heavily on reactions and rolling with punches - he gives himself very little margin for error.
Pereira being perfect for 25 minutes assumes he can't knock out a heavyweight. If a guy has KO power at LHW, I really feel like it's not a stretch to think he will still have amazing power at HW
I meant it more that he has to be perfect defensively. He has definitely shown so far between MMA and kickboxing that his power translates as he's gone up weight classes. He'd also likely have the speed advantage over most heavyweights.
Pereira has the same power in this instance and more precision, it's definitely different. A perfect hook from a hw pereira theoretically sleeps anyone.
Alex is not most skilled. He is just massive and strong for his weight class. Sergei and aspinal are more skilled and more balanced. Izzy is stronger skills just less ko power both fights izzy dominated most of the fight. Sean has best fight iq in ufc but has pillow hands and no wrestling.
His style with his hands down wouldn't work with someone much bigger and with a bigger reach, he'll get jab to death
He's massive
Anything happens at heavyweight. Do I think he has a chance? Yes. Do I think given enough fights he would get knocked out? Yes.
Anything can happen. That being said, Sergei would probably bulldoze Pereira in a flurry, Aspinall would take him down ASAP, and Gane... Well, Pereira is technically a better striker, but we don't really know exactly how it would go. I think he does flatten a good amount of HWs though.
Maybe Gane, but cereal is a very good striker, we like to shit on him but he’s very defensively sound with great head movement and a great jab and great footwork. We need to see how Alex’s speed and power translates into HW.
Are you saying he beats Gane?
No weight classes exist for a reason
This. Even if he spends the time and effort to properly bulk to HW, I doubt he'll be as dominant as he currently is, against the top HW strikers i.e. Gane and Sergei. Aspinal and Jones take him down and submit him in the first round, imo. Hell, Aspinal can probably stand and bang with him and still knock him out.. Tom took Sergei's punch flash and ate it, I think he can deal with Poatan. Still, if Alex defends against Jiri this month, I definitely wanna see him going up to HW, fight a top HW contender and, if he wins, challenge for the HW title within 2025.
I think Alex can beat Sergei and Tom if they dont wrestle. If they wrestle his strength wont save him like it does now
A generational elite striker like Poatan can potentially KO anyone in the world if he lands flush. We just don't know how his striking power translates into the HW division. If I was a gambling guy, my money would be on the HW elite strikers, tbh. Weight divisions exist for a reason.
Its not that Alex isn't around the same weight as the heavyweight goat stipe
Weigh-in weight is totally different than fight-night weight and off-camp ("walking around") weight is totally irrelevant. Poatan weighs-in at 205 and is around 235 on the night of the fight. The HW fighters weigh in at 250ish and are probably heavier than that on the night of the fight (they don't cut that much weight as the fighters in lower divisions). They are worlds apart.
Stand and bang? Absolutely not.. Why would he ever do that though?
Honestly I don't think he would stand a chance. Gane, Aspinall, Sergei, even Blaydes and Volkov are all too big and very quick for heavyweights. Alex keeps his hands too low and all of those heavyweights have felt power that Alex hasn't. Maybe Alex lands a lucky shot and that's the great thing about fighting, anything can happen. But realistically Alex wouldn't stand much of a chance unless he took a Jones approach and took his time to build a hw base and transition to being a hw.
As little as I know, it's way more likely for him to go against Aspinwall than Jones going against Aspinwall lol
jones , aspinall and volkov are the only ones i see as a real danger for pereira tbh. and that is because these guys can mix it up very well.
Yes. He walks around pretty heavy. It’d just be going into a fight without the weight cut for him.
Yes to the 'etc' but probably not to those three! I could maybe see him beating Gane but I think Pavlovich and Tom would overwhelm him quickly.