Din Thomas thought he'd seen it all as a fighter, coach and analyst before Alex Pereira burst onto the UFC scene, and now that Pereira is at the peak of his powers, Thomas believes it's time for him to make more history.
Thomas was part of the broadcast team for UFC 303 in Las Vegas last Saturday, an event that ended with Pereira brutally knocking out Jiri Prochazka in the opening seconds of the second round to retain his light heavyweight title. After this win, “Poitan” certainly has options: he can stay at 205 and face a top contender like Magomed Ankalaev, or he can move up to heavyweight for a chance to become the promotion's first three-division champion. On top of that, the man who currently holds the heavyweight title also happens to be one of UFC's biggest stars, and one of the greatest of all time.
So for Thomas the answer is simple: Pereira should aim for the moon.
“If I were Alex Pereira or his manager, I'd go up to heavyweight right now and fight Jon Jones,” Thomas told MMA Fighting. “Jon would say no, but I'd say, 'I challenged Jon Jones and he said no, let's put it on the record that the guy said no.'
“Or, if he accepts, he should take up the fight. I mean, he has nothing to lose.” [fighting] “Who says he's the best of all time other than to be the best of all time? He has nothing to lose. If I was Alex and I was your manager, I would go up to heavyweight right now and fight Jon Jones. Why risk fighting Ankalaev? Just go and fight Jon Jones.”
Jones, along with UFC CEO Dana White, are adamant about rebooking a bout against former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic. While there is a historic aspect to the booking from a promotional standpoint, many in the MMA community seem uninterested in the matchup after Jones sustained an injury prior to the originally scheduled fight at UFC 295.
If UFC rebooked the Jones-Miocic fight and Miocic wasn't available for some reason, Thomas could envision a world in which Jones faces Pereira instead of current interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
“he [take the Pereira fight] “Because he may still have doubts about Pereira's grappling,” Thomas said, “I think John would take the Pereira fight over the Tom Aspinall fight.”
Thomas has seen remarkable growth in the sport over the years, from Jones to Conor McGregor to other fighters who have made a huge impact in a short space of time.
In Thomas' eyes, Pereira was an enigma, a unicorn: a fighter who got the ball, kept running, put up Hall of Fame-worthy numbers and made the most of situations that worked in his favor along the way.
“A lot of things have to happen at the same time to do well in this sport, and I think it's really luck,” Thomas explained. “To be a good fighter — not a superstar, but just a good fighter, to have the skills to beat your opponent — a lot of things have to happen at the same time, like training properly, fighting properly, not getting hurt. A lot of things have to happen at the same time to be a good fighter.
“A lot has to happen to become a superstar, and for it to all happen in such a short amount of time like Alex did is incredible. I mean, we're talking supernatural forces. [might be] Psychic powers. I remember the last time I saw something like this was BJ Penn. BJ Penn came out, beat Joey Gilbert, knocked me out, and then he fought Kaoru Uno and knocked Uno out. We were the best lightweights in the world at the time. He knocked us out and I said, 'This guy must be on to something.' And now I'm saying the same thing about Alex Pereira.
“To do what he's doing, you've seen a lot of good fighters come and go. You can't say, 'Oh, he knew kickboxing.' There are a lot of really good kickboxers in the UFC, but no one came to the UFC with the determination of this guy, the focus of this guy, the cheat codes of Glover Teixeira. He moved to Danbury, Connecticut, and lived under the tutelage of Glover Teixeira. Teixeira got his cheat codes from the Chuck Liddell and John Hackleman systems. All of that came together to create this superstar that we've got, and he doesn't even speak English. He's good enough. What he does is good enough. From walk-out to knockout, I mean, it's just incredible. We're lucky to be alive in the age of Alex Pereira.”
