There might be a new king in the UFC middleweight division, but one fighter in the weight class is off the belief the current champion isn’t the toughest fight out there.
After Alex Pereira claimed the belt from Israel Adesanya with a fifth-round TKO at UFC 281 in November, many fighters and pundits voiced a belief that the Brazilian is only champion because he was carefully guided to the top with beneficial stylistic matchups.
Punahele Soriano, who is set to meet Roman Kopylov at UFC Fight Night 217, which takes place Jan. 14 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas and streams on ESPN+, is of the mind that Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is a more winnable matchup for many 185-pound fighters compared to Adesanya (23-2 MMA, 12-2 UFC), despite the head-to-head results between striking standouts.
“I still feel like Izzy’s the way harder fight than Alex,” Soriano told MMA Junkie. “Just from that portion where Izzy held him down (on the ground), I felt like that made him the easier fight. But he’s got the nuclear option as well, which is super scary. But I still think Izzy’s way harder of a fight than Alex. And no offense. I don’t want Alex to be mad at me and smash me on the streets for some reason.”
Soriano made it clear he’s not trying to be disrespectful to Pereira. The five-fight octagon veteran knows he’s not anywhere close to the title conversation, so his opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.
It doesn’t mean Soriano (9-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) isn’t trying to get there, though. He’s looking to start a promising 2023 campaign against Kopylov (9-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC), and will be looking for a highlight-reel result.
“I’ve always kind of wondered if I just keep winning spectacularly,” Soriano said. “Regardless of what anyone says, what happens if from the Dalcha (Lungiambula) fight to this fight to whatever’s next, what if I just keep winning the next one spectacularly? I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. That’s my goal, is just to win the next one spectacularly.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC Fight Night 217.
