Alex Pereira might have the most dangerous opponent of them all waiting for him. No, we’re not talking about Magomed Ankalaev. We’re talking about inactivity! Imagine this: What if you are such a good combat sports fighter that you don’t even have credible opponents left to fight after a point? What would you do? Change divisions?

This is the dilemma that might be plaguing the Light Heavyweight champ Alex Pereira ahead of his fight against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. Who can he fight after Ankalaev if he wins? This is a big question mark and Daniel Cormier is pretty concerned about it.

Daniel Cormier doubles down on Alex Pereira’s opponent options

During a recent conversation with Ben Askren, DC was pretty tense for  Alex Pereira because if he wins against Ankalaev, who is left for him in his division? He said, “So do you think Ankalaev beats Pereira or Pereira beats him? If Pereira beats him I mean.” Askren became concerned as well and replied, “Then it’s over. Who’s gonna beat him?”

Cormier explained, “Like who’s gonna beat him? He fought no.8 Khalil Rountree last round because there was nobody else to fight! How has he cleaned out the division when he has only been fighting for three years? He has been champion two times in 2 weight classes. He has defended the belt in multiple divisions, and he’s only been fighting for like four years!”

The retired UFC stars finally landed on Aleksandar Rakic, Jan Blachowicz, and Carlos Ulberg as potential future opponents. Blachowicz once fought Pereira to a controversial split decision loss, so there’s scope for a rematch there. Ulberg and Rakic would be new blood for the Brazilian but the latter is on a three-fight skid. Ulberg is fighting Blachowicz next at UFC London and the winner could fight Pereira. There is also a trilogy fight against Jiri Prochazka who Pereira has knocked out twice already.

Alex Pereira is truly a force to be reckoned with.  He has an undeniable strong presence in UFC with 12-2-0 and 10 TKO wins! Hold on because there is more. He has won 9 fights in UFC within 4 years and held the belt like it’s bolted onto him! So maybe he might change his division to heavyweight to find better prospects if he wins against Ankalaev. Now here’s a scenario: what if Daniel Cormier was still active and fought against ‘Poatan’? What would happen?

Daniel Cormier vs Alex Pereira:  a hypothetical thunderous showdown

Daniel Cormier who has been a former UFC double champion imagined what it would be like to fight the 205 lbs star in a hypothetical bout. Pereira has already gotten better of the strikers in his division and will be going up against a wrestler in his next fight. DC was also an amazing wrestler when he was a fighter in the UFC. He claimed that the Brazilian could suffer against the grappler because if he was fighting Pereira he would have tried to take the game onto the mat.

“I swear to God, if I was fighting Alex Pereira, I would shoot on him from the moment the fight started,” He said on his YouTube channel while speaking to Askren. “I will go forward, press, throw, like, a left hand or an overhand right, just dive it on his legs as much as I could just to try to see how his takedown defense would hold up.”

This is what Tom Aspinall said too. When talks of a potential heavyweight clash between the pair were circulating, the Brit said he would shoot the takedown on Pereira with no second thought. Why wouldn’t he? Aspinall is bigger and seemingly has the better ground game. Why risk getting punched by the hardest hitter around?

Pereira is also aware of his weakness. The Brazilian lost the upper hand against Israel Adesanya in their first UFC fight when the Nigerian-Kiwi star took him down. Later, against Jan Blachowicz, in his light heavyweight debut, Pereira did much better on the ground but still looked human. So, he has trained and cared for his ground game under former UFC champion, Glover Teixeira. “He’s got to have gotten better. He’s been training with Glover all these years in the wrestling,” the former double champion added. Some social media posts also show the champion working on his defensive grappling in preparation for UFC 313.

So, will Ankalaev, like DC be a test for Pereira? Share your thoughts in the comments below.