Alex Pereira can become the first UFC fighter ever to win a title in three divisions, but does that achievement make him the best ever to compete inside the octagon? Henry Cejudo isn’t so sure.
On Cejudo and Kamaru Usman’s Pound 4 Pound podcast, the fighters answered a fan question regarding how much Pereira’s legacy can grow if he defeats Ciryl Gane for an interim heavyweight title in the co-main event of UFC White House on June 14. Pereira previously held UFC championships at 205 and 185 pounds, and no UFC athlete has ever held gold in three weight classes, interim or no.
Cejudo conceded that the one-of-a-kind feat plus a subsequent win over undisputed champion Tom Aspinall would put Pereira into a new tier of recognition, but not at the very top of the GOAT list.
“He’s in the top 5 greatest of all time,” Cejudo said.
When Usman asked Cejudo why becoming “champ-champ-champ” wouldn’t make Pereira No. 1, Cejudo countered that Pereira’s path to his championship opportunities was easier compared to some of MMA’s legends.
“No, because there’s a big difference because he was kind of pushed to the title at 185,” Cejudo said. “He was pushed to the title at light heavyweight. And now he’s being pushed to the title. It’s different when you actually run through the weight class like you did, like Jon Jones did, that shit is f*cking hard. Now if you’re able to do that, go up run through the next one, go up run through that next one, that’s a big difference. I’m not hating, I’m just telling the truth.”
Cejudo added that Pereira has benefited from recency bias, with former stars like Georges St-Pierre, Jon Jones, B.J. Penn, Randy Couture, and Daniel Cormier being pushed out of their spots on the all-time great rankings to make room for newer champions that are arguably less accomplished.
For Usman, Pereira has to be considered for the No. 1 spot if he succeeds at setting a precedent at UFC White House.
“I think Alex Pereira puts himself in rarified air as they like to say if this man is able to go out there and be the first-ever and only three-division champion in UFC history,” Usman said.
Not only is Cejudo skeptical that Pereira even gets past Gane, he wants to remind everyone that the two heavyweights are only competing for a title in the absence of Aspinall, who is still recovering from an eye poke suffered in a title defense against Gane at UFC 321 this past October.
Pereira will have plenty to celebrate with a win on June 14, but that Cejudo feels that shouldn’t be his end goal.
“I hate to say this, it’s not real,” Cejudo said. “Justin Gaethje, when he had the interim title… what was the first thing when he beat Tony Ferguson, they wrapped it around his waist, he took it off, he put it on the floor, he’s like, ‘I want the real one.’”
“It’s a silver medal,” he added. “Interim just means you’re the No. 1 contender, that’s it.”
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