Daniel Cormier sees UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira separating himself from everyone else if he can beat Jon Jones.
Pereira (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) reclaimed his 205-pound belt with an 80-second TKO of Magomed Ankalaev in this past Saturday’s UFC 320 main event. A former two-division UFC champion, Pereira’s resume includes wins over Ankalaev, Israel Adesanya, Jiri Prochazka, Jamahal Hill, and Sean Strickland.
Pereira called out Jones (28-1 MMA, 22-1 UFC) for the White House event next June, a matchup that Cormier dubbed as his most difficult. If Pereira does end up fighting Jones and beating him, Cormier says we may be looking at the new greatest fighter of all time.
“The big fight matters to these dudes,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “Alex is 38 years old and probably thinking at this point, ‘How do I go and make another statement that I am the guy?’ Hell, if he went to beat Jon Jones at heavyweight, Alex Pereira, who’s already considered one of the greatest fighters of all time, in the most expedited timeline I have ever seen, would literally cement himself to almost stand above everyone because he would have beaten a former UFC light heavyweight champion and heavyweight champion, and a guy many consider as the greatest of all time.”
Jones is no longer the UFC heavyweight champion after he opted to relinquish his belt. Cormier questions why Pereira is going after Jones over a third UFC belt.
“That’s the biggest problem with Tom (Aspinall) yet because for as dominant as he has been, he hasn’t necessarily hit that point where people go, ‘I’ve got to fight this dude because I know that the value in a victory is so great, that I’m willing to take the chance,'” Cormier said. “Because if I put Alex Pereira against Jon Jones, Pereira is the underdog.
“Against Tom Aspinall, Pereira is the underdog. Ciryl Gane? Pereira might be the underdog. But does it bring the same type of recognition or the same type of value to a victory as fighting Jon Jones? Pereira matches up also better against Tom Aspinall and against Ciryl Gane, and all these other guys than he does Jon Jones.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Daniel Cormier: Beating Jon Jones could make Alex Pereira UFC GOAT
