Has Alex Pereria’s stardom taken a hit since his loss to Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 last month? Despite relentless criticism of the Brazilian since then, both the hosts of the Good Guy/Bad Guy show, Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen, don’t think so. If anything, Sonnen claims, “it’s a push“. DC believes such a notion is a product of how boxing has shaped modern combat sports.
Sonnen believes this idea that his light has diminished since the loss doesn’t make any sense since he continues to be a main-event attraction, still fighting for world titles.
Earlier during the conversation, Cormier explained that the idea of a loss ending a fighter’s credibility comes from modern-day pugilists and promoters’ obsession with an unbeaten record.
“The Pacquiao vs the Marquez, and you’re doing Holyfield and Tyson, and Holyfield and Foreman, Holyfield and Michael Moore…”, he began explaining the reasons behind fans’ logic.
“Because (back in the day) people recognized that these were heavyweight title fights… these were evenly matched, so guys may lose, we were happy to watch a rematch”, Cormier continued.
However, since the same level of fighters does not exist today, at least not in abundance enough for consistent matchups of equally talented boxers, fans are more focussed on the zero losses in their records.
To further substantiate Cormier’s argument, we have to go no further than the first fight between Artur Beterbev and Dmitry Bivol for the undisputed light heavyweight title last year.
Fans recognized the high stakes, and even after Bivol lost, they knew a rematch was imminent. The two would eventually square up again earlier this year, and Bivol would avenge his loss, much to the crowd’s delight.
Similarly, despite the loss in the rematch, Beterbiev’s stock hasn’t taken a hit as a trilogy fight is not being expected from the pair.
Cormier, however, reserves this argument for world champion boxers, and unfortunately, former UFC and current PFL heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou is not one of them.
Cormier warns Ngannou of boxing return
Ngannou’s foray into boxing took everyone by surprise when he lost a controversial decision to Tyson Fury back in October 2023.
But given his impressive performance in the fight that saw him drop the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight champion on the canvas, certain expectations had been built ahead of his fight against Anthony Joshua.
But Joshua proved to be a different ball game altogether as Ngannou found himself hugging the canvas after a second-round KO/
To his credit, after this setback, Ngannou bounced back by returning to MMA and capturing the inaugural PFL Heavyweight title with a first-round TKO of Renan Ferreira in October 2023.
And now, he’s looking to head back to boxing to square up against someone not unlike himself- a powerhouse puncher in Deontay Wilder, much to Cormier’s dismay.
On his YouTube channel, he pointed out that while some folks were already picking Ngannou over Joshua, the reality was that Joshua didn’t seem overly worried—mostly because Ngannou didn’t have much boxing experience.
Cormier noted that even though Ngannou is bound to make a ton of money, it feels like he’s setting himself up for another tough challenge.
“Maybe he’s just the biggest, baddest man on the planet like we all believe, and he doesn’t care that he’s up against it”, DC said whole noting that even though Ngannou rarely ever got hurt, “when it happened in the (Joshua) fight, he looked lost.”
That, according to Cormier, is a significant challenge to prepare for, and it casts doubts on whether Ngannou is ready for this boxing showdown.
