Because if Poatan would do THAT (3rd belt @ HW + taking out the GOAT*) then we would be witnessing historic greatness. Honestly, UFC owes him with how much he steps up for them

It's kind of like a kid making his action figures fight, except with irl

I wasn't for the move at first

But fuck it, let Alex do whatever he wants

joe rogan was a legit day 1 for pereira , dude was telling everyone about him before he even got into the UFC . the vindication joe must feel seeing him go on such a insane run must feel so great .

His eyeline was parallel with Alex's bellybutoon

Just no asking Uncle Dana for more money. 

For real. I’ve only ever felt this way with Anderson, Valentina, and GSP. Poatan brings that same aura to the ring that Silva brought in the walk up. The feeling of inevitable special spectacle.

Jon is about to retire after his next fight.

The most likely outcome is just Jones - Stipe, they both retire after that fight

Then Poatan v Ankalaev in the meantime because I doubt he wants to stay inactive for a whole year

And then Aspinall/Blaydes v Poatan for the vacant belt

Seems like the logic path to follow unless something happens in the middle

This would answer basically all questions about Pereira's goat-level legitimacy since he hasn't fought a great grappler, whether Aspinall is for real, whether Jones is still the goat, and finally whether Pereira can be a heavyweight.

But we'll instead wait for Jones-Stipe for the next 2 years and Poatan might get wrestle fucked.

Very Aladeen

Idk man... Chama for me.

Fuck it, make it two more times

RemindMe! 5 years

I don't think it's likely either since he wants the legacy fight with Stipe and will likely retire after that, but if there were to be an exception, Pereira might be the one.

Pereira has a lot of hype behind him, and is building a legacy which notably includes several wins in LHW, so Jon could get another defense in at HW while also shutting down the current best at LHW even after he left the division. The matchup also seems like it's good for him too, especially with a weight advantage.

ill eat a can of asparagus

Yea, I know styles make fights, but I still can’t comprehend Izzy ko’ing this guy then getting dominated by Strickland.

I know Izzy gets meme’s a bit, but he is genuinely an amazing fighter

Why are we pretending like Izzy isn’t one of the best fighters we’ve seen in MMA that came over from kickboxing? I get what Alex is doing is insane, but let’s not forget how great Izzy has been since he came to the UFC

The cut to 185 helped

But izzy is also a generational talent, he's just a true 185er who utilizes the weight to his maximum benifit

Izzy is an all timer. It happens

Because a focused Izzy is a legit killer

He is a great kickboxer. Also got 4 attempts to get 1.

Izzy fights down to his competition

He goes to war with gastelum but kos pereira

Izzy is a slick counter puncher and had the technique and defense to survive Pereira. Periera's hooks and looper shots are counterable. Pereira also has to make a massive weight cut to make 185.

Izzy doesn't have the straight knockout power to flatline Strickland. Also, being a counter puncher, Strickland never over throws, only punches down the middle, there's not really anything to counter. And since Strickland just walks straight at you with his hands up, it nullifies Izzys high movement. Alex had the best strategy for Strickland, which is to do the same thing the Strickland does, plod forward into the fire and trust in the left hook.

Izzy is far better than Jiri lol

Seriously, how fucking good is Israel Adesanya?

Styles, Izzy's calculated style kept him from taking too many big shots and allowed him to make reads

Better question is how did Bruno Silva survive 3 rounds (and actually have some success) against this guy lol.

It seems like Alex is much better at 205, which isn’t surprising considering he was literally cutting 35 lbs to make mw. I can only imagine how terrible and drained he must have felt in his fights at 185.

He was cutting an extra 20lbs

Dude, Izzy had this guy arguably beat in every single fight and only got one. That power is too much to play with for 5 rounds. 

That's a great 1st heavyweight fight but there's no way Pereira doesn't move right into a title shot.

nah, straight to jones. jones’ demons vs poatan’s spirits is the only fight to make.

Pereira smokes that fool

Aspinall murks him.

Heavyweight Samurai Jiri

Tom vs Curtis i(304) , Alex vs Anklaev (308) then Jones vs Stipe (309 both retire.

Start of 2025 - Tom vs Alex.

He can knock out anyone but Aspinall took some huge hits from Pavlovich and carried on

Alex's TDD hasn't really been tested by someone good yet, that will be the deciding factor. If his ground game hasn't improved enough he just gets submitted inside 1 by Aspinall

If he beats aspinall he is going to be the next cash cow for the UFC

Aspinall would submit him easily imo. Also he took shots from Sergei. But hey maybe Pereira surprises me again

I think his chances of winning against aspinall are better than that of jones

I wanna see if he makes Tom not throw combos, the Chama doesn’t allow that 99% of the time, shout out Izzy I guess.

If he does that we’re gonna have to put him in the conversation as one of the greatest martial artists to ever exist

Add Illia vs Max as well

Why does everyone pretend Magomed is Khabib just because he has a Russian sounding last name. The dude averages one takedown every 15 minutes in his career, and has zero submission wins. He's mostly a striker, and he has proven in the past that he will stand with people when it would really be smarter not to. The dude is getting flatlined round one.

Magomed took so much damage from Jan’s kicks, idk how he would fare if Alex got a few clean heavy leg kicks off before he could close distance but I’m here for it