Daniel Cormier agrees with the judges’ decision to award Alex Pereira the win over Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291.
In his light heavyweight debut Saturday, Pereira (8-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) defeated former champion Blachowicz (29-10-1 MMA, 12-7-1 UFC) by split decision at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. It’s a decision Blachowicz disagreed with.
Blachowicz took Pereira down and control him in Round 1, but slowed down significantly in Round 2 where Pereira capitalized with pressure. Round 3 was close, but Blachowicz’s late takedown wasn’t enough to get him the win. Cormier thinks Blachowicz didn’t inflict enough damage to get the nod.
“I thought it went well,” Cormier said on “DC & RC.” “I think we underestimated the grappling skills of Pereira because he is a striker. But we’ve got to remember, he’s training with Glover Teixeira every single day. So, for him to be able to survive with Blachowicz on his back, (it) should not be surprising because Glover submitted Jan Blachowicz when he got him down and dominated him on the ground. So, for him to be able to survive Glover would tell me he would be OK.
“But, I think that Jan Blachowicz might have been the only fighter that the altitude really took an effect on because he got tired as the fight went on. And sure, he got a takedown in the third round, but it wasn’t done early enough and he didn’t do enough damage to warrant him getting a victory. He was very upset. He tweeted that he got robbed, but I do not agree with him. I thought Alex Pereira won the fight. He showed that he’s a very capable fighter at 205 pounds.”
Pereira’s win likely set him up for a vacant light heavyweight title fight against former champion Jiri Prochazka – a fight Cormier sees as a stern test for “Poatan.”
“It’s a difficult fight for Alex Pereira because of Prochazka’s power,” Cormier said. “He will really feel the power of Prochazka, but the reality is, this guy has seen power before. He was 225 pounds on fight day. He weighed in at 205 on Friday. This is a massive fighter.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.
