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Pereira has actually fought fighters with decent ground game, be it Strickland, with a solid wrestling background, or Blachowicz, a jiu-jitsu black belt. It's just they didn't capitalise on their ground game advantage. Strickland got knocked out and Blachowicz only managed to get 3 takedowns which led to nothing.
So it's hard to say if Pereira has been tested or not. There are no wrestlers of Khabib's calibre in the light heavyweight. Ankalaev is also a wrestler, but he's not anywhere near Khabib's level. Still, he's good enough to take Pereira to the ground and drown him there, that's why I expect the UFC will prefer to move Pereira down to the middleweight than to get him to fight Ankalaev.
It seems like Pereira has faced opponents with a solid ground game, such as Strickland and Blachowicz, but they couldn't fully capitalize on their advantage. The question of whether Pereira has been truly tested arises, especially considering the absence of wrestlers of Khabib's caliber in the light heavyweight division. While Ankalaev is a wrestler, the opinion is that he's not at Khabib's level but still capable enough to take Pereira down and control the fight on the ground. There's speculation that the UFC might consider moving Pereira to the middleweight division instead of having him face Ankalaev in light heavyweight,
But for sure the height of Alex Pereira fits the bill in that Division so I think it is still OK for me, but truly his ground game isn't really been tested since he entered the UFC.
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Impressive, yet he has got everything in easy mode. Otherwise how to explain why kickboxer got only strikers and old school on his path to double belts? UFC matchmakers carried him carefully through all high level wrestlers or bjj guy to Adesanya. Was there in UFC history a guy whos way to title belt was so easy and quick? And he wasnt UFC main milking cow? Once I even have a theory, that he was signed only because Adesanya was bored in middleweight. They had a story already. Otherwise why would UFC need another old kickboxer in their roster ?
It could be a coincidence, he has the luck to back him up as he has gotten most easiest fights the UFC can throw at him, but if not pure luck then there might be a collaborator that is controlling most of his fights for sure it is big money if the fans of Izzy would see his boogieman in the UFC that would be a great PPV for sure, but the UFC milking cow lost to Sean Strickland and that for sure is not part of the plan for the UFC, which is a solid failure for them and it is an upset for the company for him to lose to Strickland.
That would be an awesome fight, but it would be a stupid move to set two rising stars against each other on an early stage. From the UFC perspective, it's way better to let them climb to the top by beating up big names past their primes, let them get all the fame they deserve and then set them up against each other and generate huge revenue.
But yeah, my money would go on Rakhmonov.
It could be a deal for Colby Covington to get him back up, but against Shavkat Rakhmonov this is a death sentence to him by the UFC sure this is for being so stubborn during his fight against Leon Edwards, that even Donald Trump didn't like his performance at all, this goes to show that he still not ready against Shavkat Rakhmanov his performance against Leon Edwards was the worst in his career.