Michael Bisping has weighed in on Alex Pereira’s ambitious move to heavyweight ahead of his interim title clash with Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250.
Pereira is scheduled to face Gane for the interim heavyweight belt in the co-main event of UFC Freedom 250, which takes place Sunday at the White House in Washington and streams on Paramount+.
Bisping believes the stakes are historic if Pereira wins a third UFC title. “Matchups come into it, but you can't deny the fact that he would be the only three-weight division champion,” Bisping said. “It's never been done before, so you can slice it any way you want. You can say, 'Who was the only person that became a champion in three weight divisions?' and it's Alex Pereira. So he'd be the greatest of all time, then. It's as simple as that. On accolades alone, it becomes undeniable.”
Despite that, Bisping admits he’s siding with the natural heavyweight. “I said I would never doubt him again after what he did to (Magomed) Ankalaev, knocking him out in like 90 seconds or something, and now here I am potentially doubting him again because he's put weight on,” he said. “He was at 185, he fought at 205, now he's going up to 265 pounds.”
“Can he do it? Of course he can. He has knockout power. But Ciryl Gane is used to taking shots off heavyweights. He's very light on his feet, he's very elusive, he's very good at kickboxing. He's used to taking heavyweight shots and he's used to knocking out heavyweights, so I'm leaning toward Ciryl Gane.”
