Daniel Cormier thinks Khamzat Chimaev would be a bad matchup for UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira.
Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) dethroned Israel Adesanya to capture the middleweight title in this past Saturday’s UFC 281 headliner. “Poatan” was hurt badly at the end of Round 1 and was taken down and controlled in Round 3. But after going down 3-1 on the judges’ scorecards, Pereira rallied to TKO Adesanya in Round 5.
Following the fight, unbeaten star Chimaev (12-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC) called Pereira “easy money” as he also eyes middleweight gold. With only eight MMA fights to his name, Pereira’s inexperience on the ground showed, which Cormier thinks would make for a great stylistic matchup for Chimaev.
“If you schedule him and Khamzat right now, and Khamzat goes, ‘This is my belt, let me fight,’ Khamzat would be a massive favorite to beat Alex Pereira,” Cormier said on his “DC & RC” ESPN show. “Just because of the style. The style just does not match up yet and Pereira, he’s so young in his career that this (Adesanya) was honestly the ideal champion for him.”
Considering their history, Cormier thinks the UFC should book an immediate rematch between Pereira and Adesanya and capitalize on another big-money fight.
“I don’t know if you benefit from putting these two dudes against other people,” Cormier added. “Because I truly do believe that there are some very difficult matchups for Alex Pereira that weren’t as difficult for Israel Adesanya and that, to me, was shown in the third round when Izzy was able to control him once he took him down. You stick him in there with a grappler or a wrestler, he might get drowned out.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 281.
Daniel Cormier: Khamzat Chimaev ‘would be a massive favorite’ to beat UFC champ Alex Pereira