Chael Sonnen thinks Alex Pereira is very close to shutting the GOAT debate once and for all but as of right now, his stardom is nowhere near the levels of ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley.
On the latest episode of the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ podcast. UFC veteran Daniel Cormier wanted to know Sonnen’s opinion about whether he saw ‘Poatan’ as the current ‘face of the UFC’ or not.
‘The American Gangster’ didn’t hesitate in accepting Pereira as one of the most touted stars in the current UFC roster. But he mentioned that the Brazilian still was a bit behind Sean O’Malley as far as being the face of the UFC was concerned.
Pereira being the face of the UFC apart requires being more than just an awesome fighter. Sonnen knows this better than most.
O’Malley definitely leaves the Brazilian behind in the other aspects required to become the face of the UFC. UFC, despite its global appeal, is still primarily an American venture. And Americans speak English. Sean O’Malley speaks English, he interacts with fans, keeps them hooked for his social media content.
Poatan, on the other hand, speaks a little bit of English and has had some very funny interactions with his colleagues and reports but it has been few and far in between. His English is definitely getting better and people do think he’s lowkey a funny dude. But he still isn’t there yet in terms of stardom and Chael Sonnen agrees.
“He’s [Pereira] getting there. He hasn’t passed Sean O’Malley yet. But he could do it.”
While he may not be surpassing O’Malley in terms of popularity, a look at Pereira’s record shows that he fought 3 times both in 2022 and 2023.
So ‘Poatan’ does trump the UFC bantamweight champ when it comes to staying active. But as mentioned before, Pereira needs to get more active regarding issues other than fighting.
Alex Pereira needs to appear before the public eye more
Conor McGregor’s chaotic press conferences were enough to sell his fights while he was the face of the UFC. One could even argue that it is what got him there. Obviously there was so much PR as well, talking about the rags to riches story of McGregor everywhere, from Jimmy Fallon to Conan O’Brian.
O’Malley may lack such flamboyance. But his YouTube podcast, ‘Timbo Sugar Show’ helps him interact with fans at regular intervals.
And Pereira, while is seen sometimes getting thrown around by Kayla Harrison and enjoying roller coasters with Merab Dvalishvili, it’s not exactly a concentrated effort on his part. So maybe, Poatan would want to focus on more of that; this is assuming if he is interested in being the face of the company.
However, if he just wants to show up at main events after the original fighters have canceled and bags millions for it, good for him.
