UFC Champ Alex Pereira Names His GOAT Fighter, Top Rival, Favorite Knockout and More

It’s starting to make sense now why Alex Pereira wants to fight Jon Jones so bad. It’s a typical case of wanting to fight the best in the world. Or, in this case, your favorite fighter in the world.

Pereira, the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion and one of the most terrifying strikers the sport has ever seen, sat down with TNT Sports, and it was very telling. It can be argued that he was just greasing the UFC heavyweight champion to make the million-dollar fight a reality, but there’s not a lot he said that can be argued with.

He didn’t just name Jon Jones as the GOAT—Pereira doubled down, calling him the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world today. But for the 205 lbs champion, that’s not admiration, that’s a challenge.

But the Jones fight is one of the future, and while it might be the toughest day at work for Pereira someday, today is not that day.

Pereira’s toughest opponent

Because as of right now, the most difficult fighter he’s ever fought is his old rival and UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, the only man to KO him in the UFC.

That rivalry has already gone down in history, with Pereira getting the better of Adesanya in kickboxing and then following him into the UFC to knock him out at UFC 281 and claim the middleweight title.

Adesanya, however, got his revenge in their rematch just months later at UFC 287, handing Pereira his first loss in the promotion. It was a brutal back-and-forth war where more than a few personal lines were crossed, but that seems to be in the past now.

Interestingly, Pereira and Adesanya were seen hugging it out at UFC 312 in Australia, with the Brazilian champion even extending Izzy an offer to train with him.

Pereira’s favorite KO

When asked about the best knockout in UFC history, Pereira, interestingly, ignored all the times he put people to sleep and went with Joaquin Buckley’s spinning back-kick against Impa Kasanganay in October 2020.

That KO went viral and earned Buckley instant fame and going viral overnight. For a man with highlight-reel finishes of his own, Pereira’s picking Buckley’s KO just shows how much of a unicorn it was.

‘Poatan’ was also asked about his favorite city to show up in and win, and without even blinking, he blurted out Las Vegas as the answer—a fitting response, considering the city has hosted some of his biggest wins, including his light heavyweight title victory over Jiri Prochazka.

While this was a really fun interview, aimed to make Pereira seem human and show people a normal side to professional fighters, make no mistake—this was about one thing above all else: UFC heavyweight champion Jones. If Pereira wins at UFC 313 this weekend, we all know where he goes from here.

Interestingly, now that the ball is in Jones’ court, Dana White insists he first lob it to interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.

Dana White hints at Pereira vs. Jones

Pereira vs. Jones is a fight that has been brewing for a few months now. Following his title defense against Stipe Miocic at UFC 309, ‘Bones’ made it clear that he did not want to fight Aspinall next.

Instead, he wanted to put his belt on the line against Pereira for a legacy fight. The American did not think the Brit had done enough or was ‘popular’ enough for him to defend his belt against. He was dead wrong since Aspinall is the interim champion, and even the great Jones must abide by the rules and fight to unify the titles.

The UFC claims as much.

In an interview on the Jim Rome Show, UFC bossman Dana White explained the plan they have for the champion.

“The plan is to fight Jon this summer (Against Aspinall).”, he said before revealing ‘Poatan’s’ heavyweight aspirations. “The fight that everyone wants to see right now is Jones and Aspinall, and then there’s no doubt that Pereira could fight the winner.”, White added.

But now, Jones must first defeat Aspinall. It all hinges on that fight. If he doesn’t get past Aspinall, the Pereira fight might not have that kind of sting to it anymore.