Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira snagged his third win this year, defeating ‘The War Horse’ Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 to retain his light heavyweight title. While the Brazilian knockout artist gave the MMA fraternity a stellar fight transforming a rather lackluster card into a thriller, Pereira’s UFC 307 performance seems to have minimal effect on his pound 4 pound rankings, leaving the fandom blue.
With fellow analyst and host of ‘The MMA Road Show’ John Morgan tweeting out the official standings, fans quickly jumped on the post and noted down their displeasure after seeing Pereira below Islam Makhachev despite being more active than the Russian.
“poatan should be #1 p4p.”
Wrote one fan who deemed that Pereira should be higher up the list and be at the top instead of the lightweight champion.
“Need to have someone different do these rankings.”
Another user mentioned the need for someone else to do the rankings while a random fan cited the light heavyweight champion’s readiness and activity should have him above everybody else. After all, he has carried the promotion on his shoulder not just once but thrice on different occasions.
“Poatan should be above Islam from activity and performance.”
“Alex tied with Islam in the title defence. Poatan is two two-division champion with 5 world title wins where Islam is 4 title wins. Poatan should be p4p or Dana white is right.”
Meanwhile, another ardent fan noted down the same, mentioning how the Brazilian is tied with Makhachev in terms of title defense but vented out his frustration seeing the world champion kickboxer rank under the Russian whose last UFC appearance came at UFC 302.
Amidst these criticisms, another fan insisted on ranking Khalil #6 considering his brilliant effort against the champion. At least he was able to hang in there with the stone-face killer for four rounds, a feat neither Jiri Prochazka nor Jamahal Hill could emulate.
As of now, Pereira’s #2 spot in the P4P rankings remains unchanged despite his stellar showing at Salt Lake City, Utah. The LHW rankings remain more or less the same, with Rountree retaining his #8 spot while Pereira is perched high up the ladder as the champion.
Meanwhile, UFC veteran and former middleweight champion, Michael Bisping lauded Pereira, deeming that it is the Brazilian’s strength of schedule that makes him the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.
Bisping tips his hat to Pereira
Simply put, Pereira has gone through everybody in his division except say Magomed Ankalaev. However, his being an active champion has got the Brit showering praise on the Brazilian.
Following the epic UFC 307 main event, ‘The Count’ gave props to the 37-year-old on his YouTube channel, reminding people that Poatan had defended his title thrice in 7 months.
” if you go through the top 10, it’s really hard to deny Alex Pereira is No. 1…To be pound-for-pound No. 1, you’ve got to be finishing people. You can’t be scraping by them with split decisions. You’ve got to do it in emphatic fashion, and I don’t think there’s anyone out there with the finishing ability of Alex Pereira. It is frightening what he can do.”
Bisping was spot on here with his analysis; unlike others on the P4P list, Pereira has knocked out every single one of his last four opponents, and that includes former champions like Prochazka and Hill!
