Washington — Two UFC broadcasters gave their take this week on Alex Pereira’s status as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time) ahead of UFC Freedom 250 at the White House this Sunday.
UFC President and CEO Dana White has suggested that, should he defeat Ciryl Gane and become interim heavyweight champion, Pereira would surpass even Jon Jones to become MMA’s GOAT. Of course, a win would mean Pereira would claim a title in a third weight class, a feat never before accomplished in the UFC. And while an interim belt wouldn’t leave Pereira as an undisputed champion, it would be a considerable feat in itself.
Former UFC light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier doesn’t necessarily agree. And he’s been asked the question by “Poatan” himself, apparently.
“Alex just asked me that directly, and he’s big now, so that’s a hard question to answer when he’s that big. And I actually told him no,” Cormier revealed on Wednesday, appearing at the UFC Freedom 250 media day with outlets including Cageside Press. “I told him I don’t think he’d be the greatest just yet. I think that he would need to defend the championship at heavyweight. He’s defended three times at light heavyweight – is it three times he’s defended? Two or three times?”
Pereira, who did not defend his middleweight title, defended his 205lb belt three times before losing it to Magomed Ankalaev. He later won the belt back in a rematch before vacating the title to facilitate his move to heavyweight.
“He’s fought for that title a lot of times, and I think that he just needs more work,” continued Cormier, who allowed that “I do believe that being a three-division champion is one of the greatest accomplishments ever. But to put him over Georges St-Pierre or Khabib Nurmagomedov, I don’t think quite yet.”
As for his old rival “Bones,” DC added “Jon Jones, you guys know how I feel about that.”
Cormier’s broadcaster partner, play-by-play man Jon Anik, was quick to give DC himself credit in the GOAT debate when he made his own media day appearance this week.
“You know it’s interesting. My broadcast partner Daniel Cormier probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves in terms of his relative all-time greatness,” started Anik. “It’s hard to put this into context. I feel like greatness should be judged on championship title defenses, and if they hung a banner in Albuquerque, New Mexico every time Jon Jones defended the title, they’d have 15 banners hanging up. So I think it terms of chasing down Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre or Demetrious Johnson, maybe there would still be work to be done. ‘Poatan’ did not defend the middleweight title. But my gosh, Mt. Rushmore’s getting awfully crowded.”
“I just acknowledge a guy like DC who was a simultaneous double champ, defended the belt in two divisions and isn’t necessarily mentioned in these conversations, and I think he should be. But ‘Poatan’ is certainly chasing rarified air that no one has breathed before, and we’ll see if he can check that box.”
Anik later spoke to Cageside Press about the length of UFC cards, particularly Fight Night events. In the past, it has been suggested some could be a little shorter. Of course, the UFC has commitments to fighters under contract, but Anik did have a number of fights per card in mind that he feels is ideal, coming at it from a broadcaster’s point of view.
“Not trying to get in trouble up here; I would say 10 or 11 fights is probably in the wheelhouse. My former broadcast partner Brian Stann would always say to me ‘this is an open book test, you might as well show up with some notes.’ And if this fight card got delayed for five hours, we could obviously make good use of that time.”
“I think part of the reason I’m so consumed by the preparation is that you can always do more. So if I’m assigned 28 athletes, it’s pretty daunting. And if you’re giving each of those guys a couple hours, just do the math, it’s a lot of hours,” stated Anik. “So this is more manageable, just focusing on 14 athletes. We were able to do fighter meetings today with all 14 athletes, we never sit down with all 25 athletes.”
“So more management from that perspective, but yeah I think 10 or 11 would probably be the wheelhouse,” Anik noted. Of course when the UFC calls his number, Jon Anik always shows up, he added. No matter how many fights are on the card.
Watch the full UFC Freedom 250 media day appearances by Daniel Cormier and Jon Anik above.