Daniel Cormier names the one fighter Alex Pereira should avoid at light heavyweight

UFC commentator Daniel Cormier has revealed who he thinks Alex Pereira needs to avoid when he moves to light heavyweight.

Earlier this month, Alex Pereira was knocked out cold by Israel Adesanya. In the process, he lost his UFC middleweight championship.

While many wanted to see a trilogy bout between the two men, ‘Poatan’ announced in the aftermath of the loss that he’d be moving up to light heavyweight. Given the current state of the division, it seems as if it may only take one or two wins for him to climb into title contention.

Of course, there are still some excellent fighters up there, many of whom the Brazilian will come across. In the eyes of Daniel Cormier, though, there’s one man that Pereira should avoid at all costs.

“That’s the matchup that Alex Pereira would want to avoid. I think that’s the only one at 205 that you would want to avoid right now because [Magomed] Ankalaev can wrestle, and we saw that in the fight against Jan Blachowicz, where he took him down in the last three rounds.”

Cormier’s Pereira warning

“Now there’s very few wrestlers [at the top of the light heavyweight division], 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.”

Quotes via MiddleEasy

We all want to see someone like Alex Pereira standing and trading. In equal measure, light heavyweight isn’t going to be as forgiving as some may think.

Do you agree with Daniel Cormier regarding the danger of fighting Magomed Ankalaev? Will Alex Pereira become a two-weight UFC champion? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!