Fighting JJ makes absolutely no sense for Alex right now, IMHO.

[RockyLockridge]

Do you really think a potential win over Carlos Ulberg would be bigger than a win over Jon Jones?

at this point, Yes. for his LHW legacy anyway. Beating a retired jones doesn't do much

 

[SuperAlly]

Beating the #1 GOAT means nothing ? It's the biggest fight for Pereira at any weight class... and would put him in Top 3 GOAT conversation... beating Aspinall or Gane won't.

Agree with the first part of your post strongly and disagree with last part equally strongly

Of course beating the reigning HW champ to become the only 3 weight champ puts him in the GOAT conversation. For one. Not top 3.

But equally beating Jon Jones would also put him right at the top of the conversation too

 

[CasualBot]

Anyone fighting Jones makes no sense

 

[JBJ was here]

Also as far as I'm concerned, Jones doesn't deserve any high value fights.

Who cares what Jones deserves? If he gets a booking that brings in eyeballs and results in a good fight without any title on the line, everyone wins, and if that includes Jones, so what? While Jones certainly isn't peak Jones anymore, rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. So long as his knees are holding up he has a skill set that should age well--he's not strongly reliant on speed or explosiveness--and there's no reason to think he can't or won't put on a good fight if he really wants to fight and therefore decides to take it seriously. So long as there's a plan B in place and Jones actually wants to fight, let him fight.

It's not like Jones is Conor McGregor, who's a mobbed up rapist who throws dollies at fighters and is almost certainly incapable of fighting a good MMA fight at this point; Jones is just some giant asshole with a drug problem who shouldn't be allowed to drive.

I'd still like to see Pereira defend against Ulberg first, but Pereira vs. Jones makes all the sense in the world if both guys want the fight.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

but it's a multiplier, If he loses to gane/aspinall there is no jones fight. As a matter of fact it's the end of the road.

See, this is why I disagree. He lost to Ank the first time around. If the road to Jon isn't already over from that loss, I'm not sure why it would be for losing to Tom. Maybe Gane, since Jon tooled Gane, but it's not like Alex had the HW belt the first time Jon wanted to fight him.

Hell, if he gets subbed by Tom, that might actually convince Jon how easy it would be for him to sub Alex. Might even increase his chances of getting it booked. It's not like a belt would be necessary if it's a White House special attraction either.

Even if someone argues that losing a title fight takes Jon off the table, I can't see anyone arguing that losing to Jon keeps the title fight on the table. If both are true, then the whole two fight premise is out the window entirely, in which case I agreed, yeah, go after Jon, but I think it should still be noted in that case that: it's gotta be unanimously agreed that the title fight is much more guaranteed to happen than a Jon fight, which still might not happen at all

 

[KO Shotz]

Jon is only interested in legacy fights. Alex is only interested in a super fight at HW. Both want a fight next that cements their legacy as the best to ever do it. Either one of them fighting Tom Aspinall makes the most sense, but it's not delusional having Jones vs Pereira happen either.

Jones vs Pereira would be massive & would go down as one of the biggest UFC fights in history. It's a GSP/Anderson or Brock/Fedor type of fight.

 

[Mohawk Banditó]

Is Hendo known for being Strikeforce champion ( is 3rd - 4th belt ) or knocking out Fedor

I hear more about his overall run of killers than the Fedor KO itself. Now, on one hand, yes that is still inclusive of Fedor, but on the other hand, it addresses all Dan opponents, whether he won or lost, so in that vein, him KO'ing him wasn't the key part

 

[RockyLockridge]

See, this is why I disagree. He lost to Ank the first time around. If the road to Jon isn't already over from that loss, I'm not sure why it would be for losing to Tom.

He pulled it out of the fire in the rematch, Had it lost that it was over for sure. He had one life line and the way that he won made it so. Had he won a contentious decision it'd be off the table in the eyes of the public

 

[Benoitthegr8]

I could see there being issues with the contract since both guys would think their the A side to the equation, unlike Aspinall who would just there to fight

 

[Ozze]

Even though it would be very nice to be the first 3 division champ, in the end, everyone wants money.

And a fight with Jones, regardless if it's for the LHW, HW, BMF, whatever belt, would get him much more money than Aspinall or Gane.
And, like you said, he might have even more chance of beating Jones.

(although I would heavily favor Jones)

 

[Alpha_T83]

Jon is only interested in legacy fights. Alex is only interested in a super fight at HW. Both want a fight next that cements their legacy as the best to ever do it. Either one of them fighting Tom Aspinall makes the most sense, but it's not delusional having Jones vs Pereira happen either.

Jones vs Pereira would be massive & would go down as one of the biggest UFC fights in history. It's a GSP/Anderson or Brock/Fedor type of fight.

I think this is the driving force that will most likely cause this matchup to happen.

Alex Pereira wants it, and he is the only opponent that makes sense for Jon Jones to actually accept another fight.

 

[AmalgamOpus]

Dude, what? Alex already has paper and legacy. Being a three time off Tom or Gane is more realistic, but if he gets the Jones fight and actually wins, he’s what most will consider the GOAT by a wide margin.

 

[Rubios]

Do you really think a potential win over Carlos Ulberg would be bigger than a win over Jon Jones?

Didn't say that.
He should aim for his chance, a hope in hell unless Gane does the upset, for the third belt.
So Aspinall/Gane winner.

IF it's Gane and Cyril doesn't end the fight like the survivor of a train wreck, then book it next. Sure.

But if it's Tom or Gane needs a long time off, I'd like Alex to defend in a winnable fight vs Ulberg.

Because A/ Numbers matter. A lot. 7 is better than 6 and sets him apart. Very few fighters have 7 title fight wins.

B/ Like it happened to Khalil, it's easy to see Ulberg will sit as a top 5 LHW from now on.
In a couple years, a win over him will look pretty good in his resume. As it does the Rountree one.

 

[Rubios]

Well, in fact a 7th title fight win would mean even more than I thought.
There's 5 male UFC fighters tied with 6 title fight wins. Pereira is there along Usman, Cormier or Stipe.

But only 8 UFC male fighters have 8 or more. A seventh, and he would match some other dude called Alex MF VOLKANOVSKI.

Fighters obviously know, and care, and look for that shit.

 

[Tweak896]

Yeah should go straight for Aspinall for the HW title, then do Jones fight afterwards. I mean we know Jones has better wrestling than Alex, where we have no idea about Aspinall's wrestling. I'd say he has a better shot against Aspinall than Jones if we're talking a hail mary KO.

There's nothing at LHW besides Ulberg or rematches (potential to do worse than the first time against opponents) or wait around for new contender. Only LHW that makes sense is Khamzat, but that would kill all his HW dreams to get ragdolled by a MW.

 

[Diggie]

Absolutely massive fight. Likely White House main event. Would be considered the GOAT if he wins. Can fight for the HW belt after that. Would be absurd for him not to pursue this opportunity.

 

[cburm]

Sorry for opening another thread, but the other one (where I suggested Alex should get another LHW title defense before moving up to heavyweight) completely derailed from the main topic.

First of all, I’ll quote myself so there’s no confusion about what I think of Poatan:
“Alex is the best striker the UFC has ever seen, because Semmy didn’t manage to transition successfully into MMA. But he’s 38”.

Remind that the big carrot Pereira is chasing is becoming the first ever three-division champion.
If Gane wins the belt -and doesn’t get wrecked in the process needing a 9-month layoff- then yes, Alex should move up immediately, because he’d have a very real shot at it.
If not, another title defense at LHW would never hurt his legacy.

Because if Tom keeps the belt (and as I’ve made clear, I’m not underestimating Alex) I will not try to give a percentage of his chances of beating Aspinall. But they’re very slim, IMHO.
Tom walks around at 260 lbs, maybe more, acked. Pereira’s highest known weight is around 230.
Tom’s 32 and dangerous in any fight scenario. He trains regularly with Rico and has been doing BJJ since he was a kid. Once again, IMHO, he’s the most dangerous MMA fighter on the planet right now.

I don’t see Alex moving up to heavyweight to stay there. I think he’ll only play that card once: for a single fight to chase the third belt. Why would he? Everyone in the top 5 is a solid wrestler.

Jones doesn’t have a belt anymore and just lost his brother.
Maybe JJ could channel that rage, anger, and cruelty into training and discipline. But I think this is a year for him to take shelter, stay close to his family, and not go through the isolation that a training camp demands.
Alex knocking out JJ wouldn’t really mean much, because we’d never know what mental or emotional state Jones would be in for that fight.

Would he make a ton of money? Of course. But Alex is already a superstar. He can keep making very big money after retirement. And there’s even more money behind becoming the only triple champion in UFC history.

Pereira’s got two fights left at most. Sadly.

Anyone wanting to get a fight with the greatest mma fighter of all time makes sense... Jon Jones vs anybody is the biggest fight...

Jon vs Tom is big money Jon vs Alex Pereira is even bigger money..

You're logic is Tom is the champ.. is not valid at all Tom has done nothing and is finally gonna fight a top 5 guy who's faced the best competition in his weight class yeah he lost to them all but still.. Toms best win is old arlovski and blades....

 

[m249viking]

Beating the #1 GOAT means nothing ? It's the biggest fight for Pereira at any weight class... and would put him in Top 3 GOAT conversation... beating Aspinall or Gane won't.

Lol

 

[Siver!]

Okay, so I don't think Jones-Aspinall will ever be a goer, nor should it be. Jones at heavyweight already crashed out, he's retired, done.

But if Jones wants one more fight for the sake of his ego, it's going to have to be Pereira in a non-title fight.

If Alex wants it, I'm happy.

Alex has already beaten the elite 205ers, Jones as a stop gap sorta makes a little bit of sense, and frankly one of them walks over the other.

Jones will come in expecting to treat this guy like Ciryl Gane, but having crapped out completely from competing, I actually favour Alex.

 

[SuperAlly]

That's true, but that's why I think he doesn't fight Jones first.

This is a big oversimplification but:

Scenario A:
Go for Jones first. Low/moderate chance of that even happening. Great money if it does.

Go for title second. If he beat Jones, great chance of this happening for good money. Lost the Jones fight? Basically no chance

vs Scenario B:
Go for title shot first. Good/great chance of it happening for good money (HW champ vs the de facto LHW, (assuming he's stripped for moving up)).

Win or lose, the chances of a Jones fight second probably won't be hurt much at all, so he's still got a low/moderate chance of making that great money.

People talk about "securing the bag," but that doesn't have to mean getting A bag, when the bag can be multiple bags. I think if you ARE gonna fight twice, then securing the total bag is putting off the lower chance and better pay for last. Only way that goes wrong is if he suffers a career ending injury in the first.

Otherwise, just fight Jones and retire on one fight (or zero fights, depending how Jones is feeling)

Good logical post that is impossible to argue with really

Jones, by dropping his belt to avoid Tom whilst still calling for Pereira, Rountree and white house fights has admitted he is just after money fights

So as you say, a loss to Jon kills the potential for HW title fight, but losing the HW title fight to (most likely Tom) likely doesn't diminish the potential for a Jon fight much, if at all