Daniel Cormier sees danger for Alex Pereira in 205 debut

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Alex Pereira, a knockout artist, might want to exercise caution when he moves up a division, according to Daniel Cormier.

When Pereira takes on former UFC champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 on July 29, he will make his MMA light heavyweight debut. Being a 205-pound competitor is nothing new for Pereira, a former two-division kickboxing champion. After knocking out longtime opponent Israel Adesanya in the fifth round to win the middleweight division’s UFC championship in November, he lost the belt to Adesanya in a rematch five months later at UFC 287.

Adesanya shown his ability to knock Pereira out in both fights by rocking him in the first one and finishing him in Round 2 of the second. If Pereira commits an error, Blachowicz might potentially do the same to him, according to Cormier.

In two battles, Adesanya injured Pereira, Cormier stated on the DC & RC show. “We have seen Adesanya hurt Pereira in two fights. He can’t get hit by Jan Blachowicz. Blachowicz hits so hard. I have seen Blachowicz almost decapitate guys. Luke Rockhold, Dominick Reyes, the way that he was knocking out guys for a while was very scary.”

After losing to Thiago Santos via TKO in February 2019, Blachowicz went on a terrifying winning streak that included knockouts of Reyes, Rockhold, and Corey Anderson as well as a decision victory against Adesanya to defend his light heavyweight belt. He challenged Magomed Ankalaev to a dismal split draw at UFC 282 in December, failing to reclaim a vacant crown.

Regarding Blachowicz’s fight with Adesanya, Cormier is unsure of whether he agrees with “The Last Stylebender” who previously suggested that Blachowicz might just utilize his wrestling to smother Pereira rather than taking a chance on a back-and-forth striking exchange.

“Izzy also was light that fight,” Cormier remarked. “I think Adesanya weighed, like, [200.5 pounds] whenever he fought against Jan Blachowicz. So it took a little bit of time for him to get it going. But he thinks that Jan Blachowicz is going to try to take [Pereira] down and beat him up there because Izzy got taken down by Jan Blachowicz.”

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