Daniel Cormier has mapped out a path for how Alex Pereira can become the greatest UFC fighter of all time.
Pereira has now defended his UFC light heavyweight title three times in the span of seven months, most recently with a brutal fourth-round TKO of Khalil Rountree this past Saturday at UFC 307. Pereira, who also held the UFC middleweight title, now has as many title defenses as Cormier did at 205 pounds.
Cormeir said winning a third UFC title could separate Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC) from the pack.
“Pereira is in the conversation for the greatest of all time,” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “Not yet quite the greatest, but if he can somehow win a fight at heavyweight, compete for the championship, or continue to defend this belt at light heavyweight, I don’t know that you can even question it.
“This is a man who became the middleweight champ, has defended the light heavyweight championship. He was never a real middleweight, though. He was so big that it’s easy to see how Izzy (Adesanya) got him the second time after he won the belt. …This dude is special. He’s very special.”
Cormier revealed that Pereira and his team contemplated pulling out of the fight after “Poatan” was dealing with a slew of injuries. So with Pereira deciding to fight and putting on a memorable performance, Cormier said the sky is the limit for him now.
“I believe he can do whatever he wants at this point, because he’s got a lot of goodwill with the organization right now,” Cormier said. “Pereira was hurt, too. I was talking to his manager and his coach after the fight, and they said they told the UFC, ‘We’re going to go to Salt Lake, and we’re going to try and train, but we may pull out.’ The UFC said to him, ‘That would suck, but let us know how it goes because we have two title fights, and we’ll elevate one if that’s what we need to do.’
“The goodwill you gain from the organization when you do that is unbelievable. So, if he did go into the offices of Dana, Hunter and those guys, and go, ‘I would like to fight Tom Aspinall for the interim championship’ – those actions that he showed last weekend leads to you receiving those types of opportunities. The world is really his oyster in terms of what he can do next, if he so chooses to try a fight up at heavyweight. But for me, it’s fight Ankalaev. Right now, you’ve got to fight Ankalaev if he gets through Rakic.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 307.
