Daniel Cormier: Magomed Ankalaev only matchup at 205 pounds that Alex Pereira should avoid

Daniel Cormier sees Alex Pereira having success at light heavyweight, but warns him to avoid one specific fighter.

Former UFC middleweight champion Pereira (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) announced his move to 205 pounds after losing his title to Israel Adesanya by knockout in their UFC 287 rematch this month.

Pereira is yet to have a fight booked, but Cormier hopes for his sake it won’t be Magomed Ankalaev (18-1-1 MMA, 9-1-1 UFC)), who is coming off a split draw against Jan Blachowicz in a vacant title fight this past December at UFC 282.

“That’s the matchup that you as Alex Pereira would want to avoid,” Cormier said on his YouTube channel. “I think that’s the only one at 205 that you want to avoid right now is Ankalaev because Ankalaev can wrestle, and we saw that in the fight against Jan Blachowicz, where he took him down for the last three rounds.”

Outside of Ankalaev, Cormier doesn’t see too much of a grappling threat for Pereira at light heavyweight.

“Now there’s very few wrestlers,” Cormier said. “So if you are Alex Pereira, you really aren’t as concerned about going up to 205 then you might have been in the past because there just doesn’t seem to be as many guys for you to worry about just taking you down and laying on you.”

With light heavyweight champion Jamahal Hill projected to make his first title defense against Jiri Prochazka, Cormier wants to see Pereira make his light heavyweight debut against a former champion.

“I want to see Jamahal Hill vs. Jiri Prochazka, I want to see Alex Pereira vs. Jan Blachowicz,” Cormier added.