Glover Teixeira thinks his training partner Alex Pereira is already capable of fighting for UFC middleweight gold, and he expects that to be proven to the rest of the world at UFC 277.
Pereira (5-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), a former kickboxing champion who owns multiple wins over reigning UFC champ Israel Adesanya, will get a fight that will put him on the fast track to the belt when he takes on Sean Strickland (25-3 MMA, 12-3 UFC) on July 30. It’s just the third octagon appearance for the Brazilian, but one that if he wins, could put him on a championship trajectory.
Although there’s a lot of questions still to be answered about Pereira’s skillset given he only has a handful of MMA fights, Teixeira (33-7 MMA, 16-5 UFC), the current UFC light heavyweight champion, has a much deeper knowledge. In his opinion, Pereira has the overall ability to give Adesanya or any top name at 185 pounds a run for his money.
“He’s ready,” Teixeira said in an interview with Ryan Quinn for The Cornerman MMA. “He’s definitely working his ground, he’s improving every time. He has very good standup, very good at the distance and just a very mature fighter. I think he’s ready to fight Adesanya right now. The next fight with Sean, I think it’s going to be a great fight for Alex, and what he wants is to get there. To get there and fight.”
After scoring a devastating knockout of Andreas Michailidis in his promotional debut at UFC 268 in November, Pereira’s sophomore octagon showing saw him go the distance. He outworked Bruno Silva en route to a unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 203 earlier this month, setting him up for the fight with Strickland.
Teixeira said he knows Strickland is a game opponent, but he thinks Pereira has what it takes to get his hand raised in this matchup.
“I think Bruno for sure is tougher than Sean Strickland, in my opinion,” Teixeira said. “Just the striking, he hits very hard. I think Bruno for sure is tougher than Sean Strickland.”
