Chael Sonnen, like millions of others, is a huge fan of Alex Pereira, who has won two UFC belts and defeated five champs in just two years. His stoic persona matches his appalling fighting style amazingly well, and despite not speaking English, he has won the fans over with his flashy knockouts and consistency.
"Poatan" has already headlined UFC 300 and UFC 303 in 2024. He'll defend the light heavyweight championship again at UFC 307 against Khalil Rountree and walking away with an impressive win is bound to skyrocket his popularity even further.
While the world keeps theorizing the reason behind Pereira's unprecedented rise, Chael Sonnen believes that the secret could be quite simple...
Chael Sonnen Believes Alex Pereira To Be A Genius With Simplicity Like John Smith, One Of The Greatest Freestylers Of All Time
Sonnen invited Mike Soccio onto his YouTube channel for a podcast where they discussed all things combat sports, including Pereira. According to the writer, "Poatan" might be extremely clever in training with Sean Strickland ahead of UFC 307 because the latter absolutely despises Rountree.
Unsurprisingly, Strickland has been going off on Rountree in recent interviews. From claiming that "The War Horse" is in a cult to calling him a beta male, the former UFC middleweight champion has left no stone unturned in explaining why he doesn't like Pereira's next opponent.
Turns out Pereira is legit. It turns out he's an actual badass and when an actual badass. Right? Everybody's a gangster until a gangster walks in the room. And it turns out, Pereira is actually the tough guy even though he didn't have the sport and he doesn't have a black belt in anything.
Soccio believes this could be Pereira's way to get under Rountree's skin without having to be the bad guy. He thinks that it's a genius move, but Sonnen assumes things are a lot simpler for the UFC light heavyweight champion.
Clearly he's a genius. But I agree with you. I don't think it's deeply thought out. I don't think his book would have a whole bunch of chapters to it. I bet you it's something really simple.
Sonnen looked back at the time when he asked John Smith about winning the Olympic Games gold in 1988 against all odds. Smith's response that he just decided to be the world champion in 1988 made "The American Gangster" realize how a lot of greats hardly care about external factors.
Sonnen puts Pereira in a similar category. He doesn't think "Poatan" is trying to scare his opponents through mental warfare or trash talk. Instead, he's deeply focused on improving himself and taking out any opponent put in front of him.
He had decided that he, it had nothing to do with that guy beat my brother or my family's been to court. Or he's the gold medalist or I'm still in college and has never been done. It had nothing to do, he had decided that he was going to be Olympic champion," Sonnen continued, "These greats, though, right? These greats, they think differently and it's not always more complex. Sometimes, it's more basic and I just say that because I think that Pereira is probably the more basic.