Curtis Blaydes believes Alex Pereira should not move up to heavyweight, arguing that Pereira would struggle against top-five heavyweights due to the significant weight difference and Blaydes’ own confidence in his ability to take him down.
Curtis Blaydes doesn’t think Alex Pereira should move up to heavyweight.
At UFC 303, Pereira defended his light heavyweight title with a second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka. After the win, talk quickly turned to Pereira possibly moving up to heavyweight. The idea? To become the first three-division champion in UFC history. But Curtis Blaydes believes he should reconsider.
“Bad idea,” Blaydes told reporters at UFC 304 media day. “Him, I’ll give you my premeditated plan: I’m going to shoot. Immediately.”
Why would he risk standing and trading punches? “Why would I give him any chance to knock me out on the feet when I know I can take him down at will?” Blaydes asked rhetorically. He’s certain Pereira knows this too.
Blaydes thinks Pereira is looking for a specific kind of heavyweight opponent. “I think he’s looking for a specific heavyweight, not any heavyweight,” he said.
He sees some potential matchups where Pereira might do well. “He has matchups against—I can see him beating guys like Tai,” Blaydes noted. They’ve even sparred before.
Maybe some other fighters in the bottom of the top-15 too, but… “You give him a top-five guy with some real weight, he’s not winning.”
Pereira recently released training footage with Tai Tuivasa, stoking flames for a possible move up. But remember, Pereira is a former middleweight.
Blaydes has faced some of the hardest-hitting heavyweights ever and feels confident that “Poatan” wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Not even a puncher’s chance.
“I’m going to eat that knee,” Blaydes said when asked about Pereira’s flying knees. He’s taken knees from Alistair Overeem before—265-pound Overeem!
“You think he throws harder knees than Alistair?” Blaydes questioned skeptically. Despite Pereira’s current aura, Blaydes is unfazed by it.
“Yes [I would welcome a fight]. Yes,” Blaydes confirmed eagerly. He believes he’d dominate Pereira due to sheer size and weight advantage alone.
“It’s not because he’s not good,” Blaydes clarified. “I’m heavier than he is.” In heavyweight fights, gravity and weight matter more than skills sometimes.
For now, such a matchup remains hypothetical as Blaydes focuses on his own fight against interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall this Saturday in Manchester, England.