Alex Pereria coming to the ufc?

He's definitely a very talented athlete and striker, but it's always hard to say how elite kickboxers will transition into mixed-martial arts. The guy is already 33 years old, so he's got very limited time to learn if he wants to make a serious run at it. For every success story like Mirko Cro Cop and Israel Adesanya, there are three times as many failures like Badr Hari, Andy Souwer, and Gokhan Saki. Even Mark Hunt and Semmy Schilt only had very moderate success.

You can say that that's because they started too late, were too shopworn from their kickboxing career or they didn't train long enough to learn the requisite grappling skills, but that's besides the point. Some guys will never have the specific athleticism or athletic intelligence necessary to learn grappling and how all these martial arts work together seamlessly.

Still, he does have some upside. He's got insane power first of all. That left hook is absolutely vicious. Despite being a pressure fighter, he has excellent skill and instincts in moving his head offline when he throws punches and uses these defense to create new opportunities when his opponent misses. His head movement and distance management isn't amazing, but it's subtly effective. His counter left hook reminds me of Nieky Hozken. He also uses his punching combinations to chains knees, to both the head and body, in a way that flows very effectively. He can use roundhouse punches and straights to the body to set up hooks and uppercuts. Also, I love that right high kick/left hook combination. Very sneaky.

Plus, the fact that he has such an extensive background in boxing and kickboxing gives him an incredible reservoir of fighting experience and skill in different aspects of martial arts that he could draw from.

It'll be interesting, that's for sure. Typically the high-level kickboxers that have transitioned the best in mma are guys are long-range fighters like Cro Cop and Izzy. But obviously you can be successful as a pressure fighter in mma, but you have to develop some takedown defense as those opportunities will be there more often at close and medium range. We'll have to wait and see if he's capable of learning an overall mma skillset and adapting his striking for mma purposes.

The one good thing he's got for him, is that if he fights at middleweight there aren't that many good grapplers around that weight anymore. As great as Israel is, that's one thing that's benefitted him. It's given him the time to develop without having to worry about a prime Weidman, Rockhold and Yoel Romero destroying him on the floor.