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Former three-time UFC title challenger and Hall of Famer Chael Sonnen has commented on the current situation in Alex Pereira's career.
Late last week, we wrote about the well-intentioned warning message that the legendary Don Frye sent to Pereira, and now Sonnen has shared his impressions in response to Frye's statements.
Since losing his belt in a fight against Magomed Ankalaev in March, "Poatan" has rarely appeared in the media. Although it seemed that a quick rematch would happen, nothing has been confirmed yet, and doubts are growing that a rematch will even happen.
Sonnen assumes that the reason for this is Pereira's health, namely a series of injuries that he is allegedly carrying. Namely, between July 2023 and October 2024, Pereira fought as many as five fights, during which he won the light heavyweight title, defended it three times, and then lost it to Ankalaev.
Speculations
During that period, there was speculation that the Brazilian had suffered multiple injuries in training, but he decided to continue fighting despite that. Sonnen linked this to the aforementioned comments by MMA legend Don Frye.
Sonnen said:
- Don Frye has some advice for Alex Pereira. He says, ‘Don’t do what I did. It cost me my career. It’s going to cost me years of my life.’ I thought, ‘God, what is he talking about?’
- That’s one of the things Don gave back to the sport. He said, ‘I was in so much pain I was taking painkillers.’
- In other interviews, he says that he was specifically taking Vicodin, and that he was taking more than prescribed because the pain was getting worse.
Furthermore, Sonnen believes that there is no need for a rematch against Ankalaev. In fact, he believes that Pereira should make the move to heavyweight:
- I would like Pereira to say goodbye to light heavyweight. I don’t think he has to win the same division again. He won the middleweight division, he was the world champion. He won the light heavyweight division, he was the world champion.
- I would like to see him in the heavyweight division. That is my personal wish.
- I believe there is only one fighter that I could see in my lifetime as a three-division champion, and that is Alex Pereira.
English (US) ·