UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is the biggest Brazilian superstar in all of MMA at the moment. Having essentially speedrun the UFC to become a two-division champion in only his seven fights in the promotion, the former kickboxer stands at the cusp of becoming possibly the first three-division champion of the division following heavyweight champion Jon Jones floating a possible bout against him.
A former two-division Glory kickboxing champion, ‘Poatan’s deadly (albeit unorthodox) striking is legendary and has seen him leave a trail of knocked-out opponents on his way to the top of the UFC. The one question that has dogged him constantly, however, is his grappling (or lack thereof). Even UFC commentator Joe Rogan has voiced concerns about ‘Poatan’s ground game.
Joe Rogan thinks Alex Pereira needs to fight an elite wrestler
While Pereira may be the biggest Brazilian mixed martial artist in the world, Royce Gracie is the original Brazilian superstar, the winner of the very first UFC event back in 1993. His success against bigger men in the no-rules, no-holds-barred old-school UFC is what made BJJ so popular and led to the development of MMA as a sport.
And Gracie joined Joe Rogan on episode #156 of the JRE MMA Show, where they discussed something that is somewhat of a specialty for Gracie: grappling. To be more specific, the grappling abilities of Gracie’s compatriot Alex Pereira.
Rogan told the BJJ maestro that he would be very interested in seeing what would happen if Pereira fought a world-class wrestler (which ‘Poatan’ has yet
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