Alex Pereira just became UFC middleweight champion despite having spent just over a year in the promotion.
Pereira competed in the main event of UFC 281 earlier this month at Madison Square Garden against Israel Adesanya, a former GLORY Kickboxing adversary. He won the undisputed middleweight title with an incredible fifth-round standing TKO win.
Since entering the world of mixed martial arts in 2015, Alex Pereira has amassed a 7-1 professional record. He previously competed in kickboxing, where he established himself as the undisputed middleweight and light heavyweight champion under the GLORY Kickboxing brand.
But still many MMA fans and insiders consider him the weakest UFC champion of all time due to his perceived lack of grappling/wrestling knowledge.
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan isn’t one of the critics – in fact Rogan recently made a flub when he argued that Pereira’s achievements trump Henry Cejudos.
For those unaware, Cejudo won an Olympic Gold medal in freestyle wrestling and was a two division champion in the UFC having won the flyweight and the bantamweight titles. Cejudo has an MMA record consisting of 16 wins and 2 losses and he’s faced all the major heavyhitters in those two divisions.
He retired in 2020 as a two division champion and angered UFC brass, which has delayed his return.
During a recent podcast appearance with Sean O’Malley on The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan dismissed Cejudo sharing that he’s far more impressed with Pereira.
Rogan said, “Yeah, he (Henry Cejudo) won the gold medal in the Olympics. However, (Alex) Pereira, when he was fighting in GLORY (Kickboxing) – he’s fighting elite professionals, you know where, Henry is wrestling amateurs.”
Pereira is a massive middleweight and is undoubtedly an elite striker however promotional titles are a far cry from the prestige of the Olympic games – not to mention making UFC history.