Just when Israel Adesanya had seemingly pretty much cleaned up the entire Middleweight division, Alex Pereira came in like a breath of fresh air and dethroned the Kiwi. But to 185 lber Andre Muniz the reign of the former two-division champ kickboxer might be shortlived as UFC 287 comes near.
Muniz discussed the matter, “We see his social media and he’s always around 220 pounds, so it’s hard to make championship weight at 185. Maybe that’s why he won’t have a long reign in this division. I believe he will defend this title [against Adesanya] and, with a win, he moves up a division.”
“I don’t think he’ll have as many title defenses for so long, especially to preserve his body and have a longer career. It takes a toll on the body and sooner or later he will pay the price with his performance. I would like to see Poatan moving up and fighting Jamahal. I think every Brazilian would watch to see that. That vengeance thing is in the air, especially since Poatan trains with Glover. But this fight has to happen for the division,” he added.
Is Andre Muniz right about Alex Pereira?
Anyone who keeps up with the fighters beyond the UFC events should know that weight-cutting is half the battle. Other than exceptions like Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson, most fighters have to shred pounds just to hit that magic number. Recently we even got the chance to see a leaner Derrick Lewis who still fights at heavyweight.
Alex Pereira is no exception to this rule. During his Glory kickboxing days, ‘Paotan’ fought in both ‘Middleweight’ and ‘Light-heavyweight divisions. Usually, with age, it gets harder to cut weight and at 35 years, Alex will probably feel the negative effects cutting such massive weight might have on him.
There is also the whole avenging glover Teixeira factor and Jamahal Hill is also open to this bout. So we very well might see a move up in weight class by Alex after UFC 287.
