Former UFC heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem admits he continues to be stunned by the rapid rise of Alex Pereira, questioning how the former kickboxing star has managed to dominate despite what he sees as limited grappling experience.
Pereira (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) transitioned to MMA after a decorated run in kickboxing, where he captured titles in two weight classes under the GLORY banner. He made his UFC debut in 2021 and quickly climbed the ranks with three straight victories before earning a middleweight title shot against then-champion Israel Adesanya, a fighter Pereira had already beaten twice in kickboxing competition.
After splitting two UFC title fights with Adesanya and briefly holding the middleweight championship, Pereira moved up to light heavyweight, where he captured the UFC title at 205 pounds. Now, the Brazilian is set to move up once again, this time to heavyweight, where he is lined up to face Ciryl Gane (13-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) for the interim heavyweight title at the UFC’s planned White House event on June 14.
Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Overeem said Pereira’s success has defied his expectations from the very beginning.
“That man is an enigma anyway, because he's a kickboxer, so like, have we ever seen him on the ground? Yeah, a little bit on his back, but is he even training on the ground? So he's a little bit of an X factor,” Overeem said.
The former heavyweight title challenger admitted he initially doubted Pereira would find immediate success inside the Octagon because of the grappling-heavy nature of MMA.
“Looking at him from the beginning, I wouldn't give him any wins, but apparently he's winning from the beginning, (since) his entry into the UFC,” Overeem continued. “What ground skills does the man have? He doesn't have any ground skills. And now, of course, he's trained a little bit ground. But (in) my opinion, you need years of wrestling to kind of be able to deal with wrestlers from UFC.”
Overeem also pointed to Pereira’s rivalry with Adesanya as a unique circumstance that may have accelerated his rise.
“Okay, we had the feud with Adesanya. Yeah, but not really tested on the ground, I think.”
When asked directly by host Ariel Helwani whether Pereira could defeat Gane at heavyweight, Overeem admitted he still has doubts, while acknowledging Pereira’s habit of proving critics wrong.
“I would think absolutely not, but maybe he would. I don't know. He continues to surprise.”
