Alex Pereira, UFC champion who can't wrestle? “He kind of falls down.”

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Alex Pereira has had one of the most unique careers in martial arts.

Pereira, a two-division K-1 kickboxing champion, turned to MMA at least in part because of his previous rivalry with then-UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Eventually, he earned his way to a title fight with “The Stylebender,” and the two traded knockouts at the pinnacle of the sport.

After the Adesanya fight, Pereira opted to move to light heavyweight. He earned a decision win over Jan Blachowicz and had a chance to win the title against Jiri Prochaska, but once again the Brazilian's unparalleled power was the deciding factor. He stopped 'The BJP' for the second time, setting up his first title defense against Jamahal Hill in the main event of UFC 300.

A perfect knockout win (despite a broken toe!) brings us to the latest. With just eight fights in the UFC and less than three years under his belt, “Poitan” has gone from relative obscurity in the MMA world to an astonishing five knockout wins and one title defense to his second title. He rose to become a class champion. It seems impossible!

However, there are some drawbacks to joining the MMA world in your mid-30s. Pereira, in particular, has struggled with grappling opponents on several occasions, showing his lack of experience in that area. He's been beaten by strikers like Blachowicz, Adesanya, and Prochaska, but somehow he hasn't actually suffered a defeat.

Pereira's continued success surprised UFC analyst Daniel Cormier for that reason. For “Good Guy/Bad Guy,” Cormier explained how Pereira is able to win fights even though he is not very deep in the fundamental aspects of fighting.

“I sit there at night and think, 'With all due respect, because Alex and I have a great relationship, what does he do when he can't wrestle?' He doesn't know how to wrestle. No,” Cormier said (via MMA Junkie).

“When they grab his legs, he just falls down. He can't wrestle. When he can't wrestle, I'm like, 'He can't wrestle, so why is this happening?' “I think. But he has such a unique skill set that it doesn't matter what he can't do. He's so good at what he does that he's now the best player in the world. ”

As mentioned above, Pereira has primarily fought against strikers. His next title defense could be against Dagestan's Magomed Ankalaev. Ankalaev is an ace combat sambo fighter and is keen to test Pereira's improvement in wrestling.

Unless the left hook lands before he shoots.

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