After Alex
Pereira’s knockout win against Jiri
Prochazka at UFC
303, speculation quickly turned to the Brazilian’s next
opponent — especially after the champion once again teased a move
to heavyweight.
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Oddsmakers recently released three possibilities: reigning
heavyweight champ Jon Jones,
interim heavyweight king Tom
Aspinall and top light heavyweight contender Magomed
Ankalaev. “Poatan” was initially listed as an underdog in all
three potential fights.
UFC Fight Pass Brazil commentator Carlos
Barreto recently gave his assessment on the Papo de Luta
podcast.
“I have to agree with ‘Poatan’ being the underdog against Jones and
Aspinall,” Barreto said. “In addition to being real threats to
Poatan´s game, both are already scheduled to fight in their
division. But concerning, Ankalaev I have to disagree.
“Definitely Ankalaev can be dangerous and bring different
challenges to ‘Poatan’ with his grappling, but it’s important to
notice that he is not a finisher. He has zero submissions on his
record. Also, he doesn’t have Khabib [Nurmagomedov’s] game to drown
opponents [with his wrestling].
“According to Glover [Teixeira] and many other grapplers who
train with hi,m in addition to being hard to take ‘Poatan’ down,
it’s harder to keep him there. Also, ‘Poatan’ is faster than
Ankalaev and a master in controlling the distance — something very
difficult for Ankalaev to deal with. I believe speed would be
a key point in that fight. As I said, I totally agree with the odds
putting Jones and Aspinall as favorites against ‘Poatan,’ but not
Ankalaev.”