'They’re all in trouble!' Kamaru Usman warns light heavyweight and heavyweight division on Alex Pereira’s power

Pereira has slowly hinted at an interest in moving to the heavyweight division. As such, he had a staredown with Ciryl Gane at Ares FC Q&A session in France and subtly challenged Tom Aspinall. Now with Aspinall announcing his official return at UFC 304 in Manchester, rumors are bustling. Usman thinks whoever fights the kickboxer, the “path of least resistance” would be to match his raw linear wave of power with hard-hitting clinches and wrestling.

This falls in line with Michael Bisping prescribing to take away the best options of Pereira in order to beat him. The two-division GLORY and UFC champ is a kickboxing veteran with immense raw power. However, he does have visible gaps in his grapples. Therefore, Usman thinks any fighter from any division would find it tough to match him unless they wrestle it out.

Breaking down Alex Pereira’s reign: By the numbers

No one expected anything from Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira when he entered the UFC. Most people knew about his rivalry with Israel Adesanya. However, no one expected him to match Adesanya’s legacy in the UFC or even surpass it. Moreover, he did things Israel Adesanya could never do – win the light heavyweight title.

‘Poatan’ became the fastest two-division champion in the UFC. On his way to winning the title, he defeated Jan Blachowicz in a No. 1 contenders match. Up until that point, Blachowicz was the only fighter to defeat Adesanya in the UFC other than Pereira. Defeating Blachowicz and later winning the light heavyweight title secured Pereira’s legacy as a future Hall of Famer.

Pereira has such immense power that he earned eight of his ten career victories via stoppages. He is 3-0 since he moved up to the 205 division in July 2023. He is also 33-7, 21 KOs as a kickboxer.

Pereira broke Bruno Silva‘s 7-Fight Win-Streak at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Ankalaev. Similarly, he broke Sean Strickland‘s 6-win streak at middleweight at UFC 276: Adesanya vs. Cannonier. Just like Pereira, ‘Tarzan’ did rebound into better shape on a 3-0 streak in 2023.

Jiri Prochazka was riding on a 14-0 record (3-0 UFC) and had a chance at the vacant light heavyweight belt. Pereira broke that streak as well. Then there’s the matter of ending Jamahal Hill’s 4 Fight LHW win streak as the prodigal champ. Out of his eight stoppage victories, he has four first-round finishes, including Hill.