Chael Sonnen Doubts Jon Jones’ Ability to Take Down Alex Pereira After ‘Poatan’ Thwarted Ankalaev’s Wrestling

After watching Alex Pereira lose his light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 this weekend, UFC veteran Chael Sonnen believes the Brazilian is truly prepared for Jon Jones. Bizarre, isn’t it? Especially since the Ankalaev fight was being considered a litmus test for the former 205 lb champion?

Sure, Pereira lost the fight on the judges’ scorecards, but his takedown defense was on point. In fact, Pereira managed to stuff each one of Ankalaev’s 11 takedown attempts during the fight, an impressive feat for a kickboxer without a concrete ground game to speak of.

And it’s why Sonnen believes if Pereira decides to move up to heavyweight, Jones could be in serious trouble trying to take him down.

“It turns out that old Alex Pereira ain’t so easy to takedown. Alex Pereira really showed some stuff. That entire narrative that he can’t defend and he can’t wrestle, is now gone,” Sonnen said, clearly impressed by Pereira’s progress.

Sonnen does have a point. It was indeed impressive to have had a 100% takedown defense against an all-round performer like Ankalaev. However, it should be noted that the perception of Ankalaev being an expert wrestler, or grappler, for that matter, is highly exaggerated. It stems from the fact that, since he is from Dagestan, he is like other elite grapplers such as Islam Makhachev and Khabib Nuramgomedov.

But that is just not the case. In the 15 fights he’s had in the UFC, Ankalaev has only one finish by submission, and that was him tapping out to Paul Craig on debut.

Ankalaev has improved by leaps and bounds since then, but he’s just a more well-rounded fighter than Pereira gave him credit for at UFC 313. It also helped that the Brazilian camp looked too focused on the grappling part and forgot to prepare for Ankalaev’s high-pressure striking, something Sonnen also seems to be doing right now.

So if Pereira still truly desires to take on Jones at heavyweight, which, by the way, seems unlikely at the moment, he will have to do more than just stuff takedowns.

Because unlike Ankalaev, Jones is far more technical and creative with an almost unparalleled fight IQ, which is to say, he can do a lot more than try double legs all live long day.

Also, one should not forget that Jones is no amateur with his striking. His punches might not be the hardest, but he connects and frequently so, something Pereira isn’t used to in an opponent. Then, there’s the idea of Pereira having to gain at least 25 lbs and still have enough endurance and agility.

At this point, UFC veteran Daniel Cormier doesn’t believe this is something Pereira is going to be able to do.

Cormier believes Pereira has hit his limits

The former UFC double champ was less than impressed by Pereira’s reluctance to engage with Ankalaev over the weekend. The aggressive striker, who always tries to force the issue, seemed uncharacteristically subdued in his approach, and for DC, that raised some serious concerns about his abilities.

For one, Cormier does not think ‘Poatan’ has what it takes to move up to heavyweight.

“When we watched Saturday, and watched him and Ankalaev fight, it gives me the idea that he has kind of maxed out the weight he can go up. I don’t think he is strong enough to deal with anyone bigger,” DC said on a disappointing note.

DC looked at how Pereira reacted to Ankalaev walking him down and added, “The amount of pressure Ankalaev was able to generate without the danger coming back at him like we expected, those heavyweights will walk through what he was throwing at them“.

Of course, now Pereira has the opportunity to come up with a new game plan and prove everyone wrong in the proposed rematch for the light heavyweight title. Given his track record as the champion, it is likely the UFC will give him a longer rope to prepare. Hopefully, he can use it to his benefit and turn the tide.