Michael Bisping has raised concerns after watching Alex Pereira’s recent sparring sessions ahead of Pereira’s upcoming interim heavyweight title fight.
Pereira is scheduled to face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight belt in the co-main event of UFC Freedom 250 at the White House on June 14. In preparation, he has been working with 6-foot-8 heavyweight Tallison Teixeira, who is set to fight Sergei Pavlovich on the main card of UFC Fight Night 277 at Galaxy Macau in China.
“He is going to put on 30 pounds, something like that,” Bisping said, noting the challenges of Pereira moving to heavyweight. “So that means he's going to be slower. It means he's going to be fighting bigger guys, and it means he's probably going to be fighting people that can punch harder. What do you do to prepare for such a thing? You spar other heavyweights, and lately some footage has come out. I've got to say, it looks a little concerning for Alex Pereira.”
“For Alex Pereira going up against Ciryl Gane, you would think that he would be having his way,” Bisping continued, before breaking down the sparring clip with Teixeira: “We see here, he's backing him up against the fence, he's about to go on the attack, nice 1-2, but Tallison fires back with some heavy fire power – cracks him with the right hand.”
“And you know that Ciryl Gane is going to have the speed advantage. He's also going to be lighter on the feet. ... Now granted, this is sparring, and we don't know. Maybe Pereira wasn't feeling it that day.”
