There might be a new king in the UFC middleweight division, but one fighter in the weight class is off the belief the current champion isn’t the toughest fight out there.
After Alex Pereira claimed the belt from Israel Adesanya with a fifth-round TKO at UFC 281 in November, many fighters and pundits voiced a belief that the Brazilian is only champion because he was carefully guided to the top with beneficial stylistic matchups.
Punahele Soriano, who is set to meet Roman Kopylov at UFC Fight Night 217, which takes place Jan. 14 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streams on ESPN+, is of the mind that Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is a more winnable matchup for many 185-pound fighters compared to Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC), despite the head-to-head results between striking standouts.
