Brendan Schaub believes Alex Pereira’s time as middleweight champion will be short lived: “I don’t think he beats a single guy in the top 5”

Brendan Schaub believes Alex Pereira will only remain middleweight champion for a short time if the UFC are to match him with an opposite style.

Pereira shocked the world of MMA this past Saturday by dethroning his former kickboxing nemesis, Israel Adesanya.

UFC 281 had numerous significant talking points, but none came close to Pereira becoming the UFC middleweight champion with just four fights under the company. The Brazilian’s fifth-round stoppage moved him to the top of the mountain and earned him a No.8 spot on the pound-for-pound rankings.

Many fighters voiced their annoyance at Pereira being awarded a title shot with only four fights in the UFC and eight MMA fights in total. On the other hand, several middleweights on the roster will be licking their lips at the possibility of taking the title off Pereira by using their wrestling credentials. Former UFC heavyweight Brenda Schaub was among those critics that believed any highly skilled wrestler would defeat the Brazilian native with ease.

Brendan Schaub doesn’t back Alex Pereira if he faces a wrestler

“I’m not taking anything away from Alex, but I don’t think he beats a single guy in the Top 5,” Schaub said in a UFC 281 recap show on his YouTube channel. “Robert Whittaker, after he saw Izzy and Pereira’s grappling and the wrestling, I’m sure every guy in the Top 5 are like, ‘Dear God! Please give me that guy.’ For those guys that can actually wrestle and have not just one takedown but an arsenal and have chain wrestling and they have jiu-jitsu higher than a blue belt, they’re foaming at the d—k to get their hands on Pereira.”

“UFC knows this, and they’re going to protect him,” Schaub continued to say. “Like Khamzat tweeted out, ‘I’ll fight at 185, I’ll be your champ!’ Now, if UFC wanted Khamzat to be a superstar at 170 and 185, your next fight is going to be Khamzat vs. Alex Pereira. Khamzat beats the s— out of him. Khamzat mops the floor. Again, I’m not taking anything away from Alex, it’s all about matchups and styles and that’s a complete nightmare for him.

Israel Adesanya’s resume deserves a rematch

“UFC’s not going to do it because that discredits Izzy’s entire resume,” he stated. “If Izzy never gets that fourth fight, second fight in MMA against Alex, and Alex fights again and loses … they have to have him fight Izzy or you’re never hearing from him again, I promise.”

During the post-fight press conference, Dana White suggested the next move would likely be a rematch, given Adesanya’s body of work up until now. However, the former champion expressed his interest in taking time away from the sport to deal. Adesanya explained that he wanted to take care of some health issues that he’s put on the back burner during his active year of competition.

What do you think the next logical move for both men is? If Israel Adesanya takes time off, who’s the most deserving challenger for Alex Pereira? Let us know!