How is Alex able to dominate at 36 after a long hard career?

[Pilo]

Timing and overall circumstances which include matchups and current state of the middleweight and LHW divisions have a lot to do.

Don't get me wrong, Alex is a fantastic fighter and I'm not taking anything away from him here.

Let's recap his UFC career: he came to the UFC, fought two average MWs who were favourable matchups in that these guys usually keep the fight standing, and that's where Alex excels. Then fought Strickland, which sure is a good win in retrospect, but who also stood up with him and improved greatly after that fight. Then fought a guy that he had beat twice in kickboxing already in Adesanya, in a real hard-fought, back-and-forth battle. Fought that guy again, and lost by KO in the first.

Moved to a very fluid LHW division since Jones left, where the belt has changed hands quite a few times. Fought Blachowicz to a split decision, then Jiri and got an early stoppage. Then got a real badass, highlight-reel KO against Hill.

The circumstances are what they are at a given time, and he certainly has no control over them and that's also true for any fighter, but had Alex been forced to fight more grapplers at 185, or had he entered the UFC earlier, when solid grapplers like Weidman, Romero and Jacaré were top MWs, who knows if he would have even got to a title shot?

And let's face it, the current state of the LHW division isn't what it was 6-7 years ago. There certainly aren't as many dangerous matchups for him now as there would have been when the division had Jon Jones, Daniel Cormier, Anthony Johnson, Alexander Gustafsson...

All that to say, kudos to Pereira for doing incredible things in his UFC career this late into his overall fighting career. But the circumstances make it hard to say whether his success is mostly due to him hitting his prime late, or to him entering the UFC at the perfect time. Perhaps it's a combination of both.

 

[ElLunico]

Alex is not a kickboxer. He is MMA fighter

He has to fight wrestlers for us to know if he's a MMA fighter lol. He's basically kickboxing with 4 oz gloves against dudes that don't have close to his experience

 

[Leon Edwards]

He has to fight wrestlers for us to know if he's a MMA fighter lol. He's basically kickboxing with 4 oz gloves against dudes that don't have close to his experience

Jan?

 

[MalhadomedoEv]

The guy is Frankenstein, he gets injured a lot, it's amazing what he's achieved at this advanced age and with all the injuries he's carrying.

He's been fighting injured practically since his last fight at Glory against Vakhitov, he fought with a knee injury against Vakhitov, 2 months later against Michailidis he fight with a worse knee injury, he injured his hand during the camp for Bruno Silva, fought with an injured hand and broke his toe during the fight, he broke his finger in the camp for Izzy and fight injured, broke two ribs in preparation for Jan and fight injured, re-injured his knee during camp for the Jiri fight and fought injured, broke his toe in camp for Hill and fought injured and broke another toe during the fight, the only fights he apparently didn't fight injured was the second against Izzy and Strickland.

The injuries against Vakhitov, Michailidis and Bruno Silva were revealed by Glover before UFC 287, Glover tried to persuade Alex to postpone his UFC debut, Alex wanted to go ahead with the fight.

Glover said in an interview after UFC 291 that he also tried to persuade Alex to postpone the fight against Jan because he couldn't train wrestling due to his ribs, Alex wanted to go ahead with the fight.

Gregory "Robocop" Rodrigues was the one who revealed the knee injury in the camp to fight Jiri, and Alex himself showed the broken finger in the camp to Hill on video.

An exceptional fighter but also very susceptible to injuries, and all during the end of camp, he never manages to recover while still in camp and has to go into fights injured, I think that's why he always says his time is running out, there's no body that can take so many recurring injuries, add to that the brutal weight cuts he subjected himself to and the fact that he had to get rid of a very hot succubus..

 

[CatchtheseHands]

The guy is Frankenstein, he gets injured a lot, it's amazing what he's achieved at this advanced age and with all the injuries he's carrying.

He's been fighting injured practically since his last fight at Glory against Vakhitov, he fought with a knee injury against Vakhitov, 2 months later against Michailidis he fight with a worse knee injury, he injured his hand during the camp for Bruno Silva, fought with an injured hand and broke his toe during the fight, he broke his finger in the camp for Izzy and fight injured, broke two ribs in preparation for Jan and fight injured, re-injured his knee during camp for the Jiri fight and fought injured, broke his toe in camp for Hill and fought injured and broke another toe during the fight, the only fights he apparently didn't fight injured was the second against Izzy and Strickland.

The injuries against Vakhitov, Michailidis and Bruno Silva were revealed by Glover before UFC 287, Glover tried to persuade Alex to postpone his UFC debut, Alex wanted to go ahead with the fight.

Glover said in an interview after UFC 291 that he also tried to persuade Alex to postpone the fight against Jan because he couldn't train wrestling due to his ribs, Alex wanted to go ahead with the fight.

Gregory "Robocop" Rodrigues was the one who revealed the knee injury in the camp to fight Jiri, and Alex himself showed the broken finger in the camp to Hill on video.

An exceptional fighter but also very susceptible to injuries, and all during the end of camp, he never manages to recover while still in camp and has to go into fights injured, I think that's why he always says his time is running out, there's no body that can take so many recurring injuries, add to that the brutal weight cuts he subjected himself to and the fact that he had to get rid of a very hot succubus..

Fighters that are active are pretty much always fighting injured.

 

[Ibm]

He came only 2 years ago.

 

[orca]

Maybe repeat that in the mirror, retard.
Look at your avatar, look at the sophomoric way in which you write.
The 12-year-old is you.

And, BTW, dumbass, Alex Pereira was a dual-Champion in Glory Kickboxing first, he is no "average MMA striker" ... you ignorant, simpleton f*ck.

Jake Paul has nothing to do with anything mentioned here ... but he only calls out elderly, washed fighters (and lost to the only guy his age he fought).

Shut TF up.

shut tF up
poatan has only 1 title defense
you let him fight a fighter who is above average in striking with good wrestling
your boys gonna drown

bro wtf 1 title defense
you need to stfu too

poatan gets ktfou by izzy who is a poormans anderson silva
your not the best striker if u got ktf out

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

shut tF up
poatan has only 1 title defense
you let him fight a fighter who is above average in striking with good wrestling
your boys gonna drown

bro wtf 1 title defense
you need to stfu too

poatan gets ktfou by izzy who is a poormans anderson silva
your not the best striker if u got ktf out

He's beaten more champs than Khabib.
Who is the best striker in MMA if not Alex? Please enlighten us.

 

[KarateYeah]

He doesn't drink alcohol anymore. That helps, no matter how you paint it, it matters..and I love alcohol

 

[dc007]

Whatever he hits, he destroys.

 

[Maori]

Power

Higher weight classes are different like that

 

[ryun253]

So why did Fedor get knocked out by Hendo. Alex is something special.

Was doing full Rocky 4 fight camps against guys like Zulu & destroyed his body, I guess

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

Elite kickboxer who hits hard as fuck and is fighting a bunch of guys that arent great at wrestling and usually barely even try to wrestle him. Tbh hes having a pretty easy time in MMA overall, easier than he had in his own sport.

 

[moreorless87]

I suspect part of it is Alex didnt really hit his peak form until around 2017, a lot of the time I'm guessing what limits someones prime years is the level of training needed to be among the very best in the world becomes very extreme.

Alex has been a pro kickboxer since 2012 but I wouldn't be surprised if he upped his commitment training wise around 2016-17 and you saw the benefits in the ring so perhaps he isnt quite as worn down as you might expect?

 

[Lee Danger]

205 seems weak when Jon Jones and Cormier aren't around anymore. Jiri and Jan and Hill are legit great fighters

it's almost the same division that both Jones and Cormier left, also imho Jan and Hill (and Rakic and Jiri on the right day) are way better than both Reyes and Santos.
saying that the current lhw division is weak is not a great compliment to Jones' achievements, excpecially if you look at his last years there...

 

[Mga223]

Because he’s not fighting killers, his level of competition is relatively easier and he’s been matched up well. The only great fighter he has faced knocked him out cold

He went 1-1 with that fighter you speak of and beat the other 2 that same fighter has losses against.

Classic dumb Liverpool fan though.

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

He got into combat sports pretty late actually, made his kickboxing debut in 2012.. Look at Andrei Arlovski for example, he went on a 4 fight win streak in 2021/2022 and he made his MMA debut way back in 1999.. Glover Texeira made his MMA debut in 2002. Sergio Pettis is only 30 and made his MMA debut in 2011 so that shows how late Pereira was. Look at Romero, he got into MMA late and still looks pretty good even now.

 

[Givvee]

He started training later in life, he was around 22 when he started to traing, and according to his record, had his first fights around 2012-2013, which makes him about 25-26, so he's only been fighting professionally for around 10 years, hos his 36 is going to be vastly different compared to lets say a guy who started as a child, had hundred of amateur fights in juvenile, up until he went pro in in late teens, early 20's

 

[moreorless87]

it's almost the same division that both Jones and Cormier left, also imho Jan and Hill (and Rakic and Jiri on the right day) are way better than both Reyes and Santos.
saying that the current lhw division is weak is not a great compliment to Jones' achievements, excpecially if you look at his last years there...

As said I think LHW has been pretty stable as a division in the last 5 years or so, its lacking in much depth with quite a lot of older fighters but the top few names are pretty strong still.

In terms of Alex being "favoured" personally I do not agree, I think the UFC wanted to setup a fight with Izzy beating the guy who beat him in kickboxing and then after Izzy won the rematch they wanted to avoid a third fight, probably told Alex if if didnt focus on calling out Izzy making him look bad he would get a relative fast track to a LHW title shot instead although honesty I think beating Jan is a better title eliminator than many we've seen at LHW.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

Yes. He has had a long career , but I think coming to mma later allowed him to take less damage over the years. Who knows if that cumulative effect of damage is a real thing. It sure does have anecdotal support. Dispatch fighters early and take less damage seems like a great strategy.