Amid continued speculation regarding how his style will translate at 205 pounds ahead of UFC 291 divisional landing, former middleweight champion, Alex Pereira has been backed to likely take over the throne from champion, Jamahal Hill by teammate, Glover Teixeira – who claims the matchup is “perfect” for his compatriot.
Pereira, the current number one ranked middleweight contender, is slated to make both his Octagon return and his light heavyweight divisional bow at UFC 291 at the end of the month, taking on former light heavyweight champion, Jan Blachowicz in a co-main event slot in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Last time out, the Sao Paulo native, who has held gold at both the middleweight and light heavyweight limits during his tenure with GLORY Kickboxing, suffered a thunderous second round KO loss to arch-rival, Israel Adesanya – as the City Kickboxing staple regained the middleweight title.
Slated to return in a potential title-eliminator against Polish veteran, Blachowicz in Utah at the end of July, Alex Pereira’s knockout rate and ability has been questioned by Hill – with the current champion doubting the Brazilian’s chances of turning in violent finishes at light heavyweight akin to his middleweight stay.
Alex Pereira picked to beat Jamahal Hill in favourable matchup
However, according to former champion, Teixeira – who retired following his January title fight loss to Hill, Alex Pereira would matchup well against the Dana White’s Contender Series product in a projected future championship outing.
“For sure, the style with Jamahal Hill and Alex (Pereira), it’s perfect for Alex,” Glover Teixeira told assembled media following UFC Fight Pass Invitational 4. “Listen, Jamahal Hill is a great fighter, and Jan (Blachowicz) is a great fighter. We’re not looking past Jan over here like that. Styles make fights. My style was more grappling, and Jan is a tremendous striker. He beat Israel Adesanya and he was doing really good in the standup before he started going [for takedowns]. Jan is dangerous, he hits hard.”
“But if everything goes to plan and Alex can get past Jan, for sure I think Jamahal Hill will be an amazing fight for Alex, and it would be nice to see revenge – nothing against Jamahal Hill, he’s a great guy as well, but yeah.” (H/T BJPENN.com)