9. Alex Pereira
The new UFC middleweight champion and longtime kickboxing great comes in ninth. Pereira decided to focus on MMA full-time in late 2021, when he was already 34 years old and had a record of just 3-1. A year later, he was the UFC middleweight champion, a kind of feat considered impossible in the modern era. While favorable matchmaking that avoided grapplers had a lot to do with it, so too did his superlative striking, especially in terms of raw power. Pereira's right hand is hard and effective, but the true danger resides in his left hand. Pereira's left hook is, in my opinion, the best in MMA history. Not only is it ridiculously accurate and fast, but it's monstrously powerful, dropping opponents like sacks of potatoes. He scored a knockout over journeyman Thomas Powell in LFA with it, but the real gem was finishing Top 10 middleweight Sean Strickland, who has a tough chin and had only been knocked out once before, halfway through the first round with a single, perfect left hook.
Befitting a champion kickboxer, Pereira's powerful strikes aren't confined to his fists. He has excellent kicks, especially the one upstairs, and a gorgeous flying knee, like the one he used to knock out Andreas Michailidis in his UFC debut. Pereira carries his power through the whole fight, as he proved when he overwhelmed Israel Adesanya with blows in the fifth round to become the new middleweight king. Given that he turns 36 in a few months and that opponents will be looking to beat him with grappling—which even Adesanya used effectively in their first fight—it's hard to say what his MMA career will end up being. Undoubtedly, however, he is one of its heaviest hitters.
Continue Reading » Number 8
The new UFC middleweight champion and longtime kickboxing great comes in ninth. Pereira decided to focus on MMA full-time in late 2021, when he was already 34 years old and had a record of just 3-1. A year later, he was the UFC middleweight champion, a kind of feat considered impossible in the modern era. While favorable matchmaking that avoided grapplers had a lot to do with it, so too did his superlative striking, especially in terms of raw power. Pereira's right hand is hard and effective, but the true danger resides in his left hand. Pereira's left hook is, in my opinion, the best in MMA history. Not only is it ridiculously accurate and fast, but it's monstrously powerful, dropping opponents like sacks of potatoes. He scored a knockout over journeyman Thomas Powell in LFA with it, but the real gem was finishing Top 10 middleweight Sean Strickland, who has a tough chin and had only been knocked out once before, halfway through the first round with a single, perfect left hook.
Befitting a champion kickboxer, Pereira's powerful strikes aren't confined to his fists. He has excellent kicks, especially the one upstairs, and a gorgeous flying knee, like the one he used to knock out Andreas Michailidis in his UFC debut. Pereira carries his power through the whole fight, as he proved when he overwhelmed Israel Adesanya with blows in the fifth round to become the new middleweight king. Given that he turns 36 in a few months and that opponents will be looking to beat him with grappling—which even Adesanya used effectively in their first fight—it's hard to say what his MMA career will end up being. Undoubtedly, however, he is one of its heaviest hitters.
Continue Reading » Number 8