Former UFC heavyweight king Junior dos Santos has chosen Alex Pereira to knock out Cyril Gane within the Brazilian’s heavyweight debut. The previous UFC heavyweight champion shared his views in a current interview with Ariel Helwani.
Dos Santos will face Robelis Despaigne this weekend on the Most Precious Promotions card, which will likely be streamed reside on Netflix from the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. Despaigne received a bronze medal in Taekwondo on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a blended martial arts file of 5 wins and a couple of losses. Dos Santos has an expert file of 21 wins and 10 losses, together with 9 wins within the UFC throughout his title run from 2011 to 2012. Their heavyweight bout will likely be on the undercard of Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano.
Former UFC heavyweight champion Alex Pereira wins by knockout in his heavyweight debut: “Nice combat for him”
This prediction is for the co-main occasion of UFC Freedom 250 on June 14th on the White Home South Garden in Washington, D.C., the place Ilya Topria will face Justin Gaethje within the light-weight title unification foremost occasion.
Pereira relinquished his gentle heavyweight belt and fought Gane for interim heavyweight gold in a bid to grow to be the primary three-division UFC champion. Pereira entered the combat with a file of 13 wins, 3 losses, and 10 KOs, contemporary off of being stopped within the first spherical by Magomed Ankalaev. Gane is 13-2, together with one no contest (together with six knockouts). The final time he fought Pereira’s subsequent opponent was in 2020, when it was a no-contest as a consequence of a poke within the eye.
Dos Santos believes Pereira’s fashion has an edge. He advised Helwani: “In reality, I believe he’ll do very properly, particularly on this debut match in opposition to Gane. I believe it will likely be an important combat for him due to his fashion. In the future he’ll knock out Gane in his heavyweight debut.” Dos Santos added that there is no such thing as a higher matchup for Pereira’s first heavyweight check. Acquire brings pace and ability, however lacks one-punch energy. Pereira, alternatively, presses ahead, cuts angles and lands heavy pictures.
Pereira began at UFC middleweight, the place he received a gold medal, after which received the sunshine heavyweight division twice earlier than shifting up. Gane is in search of his second interim title after Francis Ngannou. Heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall is out with an eye fixed harm. The winner right here will win the following unification. Different bouts at Freedom 250 embody Sean O’Malley vs. Ayman Zahavi at bantamweight, Michael Chandler vs. Mauricio Ruffy at light-weight, Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus at middleweight, and Diego Lopez vs. Steve Garcia at featherweight.
Dos Santos is aware of Gane from their 2020 matchup, which ended early as a consequence of an eye fixed poke. He holds no grudges however sees a transparent path to victory for Pereira. The White Home card marks the UFC’s partnership with America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
