Brendan Schaub disagrees with Joe Rogan labeling Alex Pereira’s extreme weight cutting as “sanctioned cheating”

BBrendan Schaub doesn’t agree with Joe Rogan over Alex Pereira and him cutting down to middleweight.

At UFC 281, Pereira became the new middleweight champion as he scored a fifth-round TKO over Israel Adesanya. Although he was losing the fight until he stoppage, during the fight, it was clear the Brazilian was much bigger than Adesanya.

Although they both made weight the day before, Rogan says how much Pereira cut weight is sanctioned cheating.

“He could have been, yeah,” Rogan said (h/t MMAMania). “He certainly gets above that between fights. And he has a hard time making 185. It’s a bulls**t thing. It’s basically sanctioned cheating. It really is. But, everybody does it. [Israel Adesanya] barely does it,” he added. “When Izzy moved up to fight Jan Blachowicz at Light Heavyweight he weighed 194, which is crazy because Blachowicz is a giant Light Heavyweight. Blachowicz is big powerful guy…

“He’s so big for the weight class, which really wears you out, that weight cut,” Rogan said. “It’s a big weight cut. And with wrestling, he’s gonna have issues. Because he’s not a grappler, that’s not his forte. And he’s getting better at grappling, but when Izzy takes you to the ground and Izzy controls you, that’s not his forte, either.”

However, Brendan Schaub disagrees with that statement. Instead, he doesn’t think it is cheating, as if you can make that weight then you should be able to fight at that weight class. Along with that, he says it’s more impressive that Alex Pereira has the cardio to go five rounds which adds to the fact that he should be at that weight class.

“It can be an advantage. Especially if you’re good at it,” Schaub said on his podcast (via Sportskeeda). “With Pereira… I wouldn’t call it cheating. They literally weighed the same on the scale, and then he balloons back up. That’s what makes Pereira kind of special, he can cut that weight and still have cardio for five rounds.”

Alex Pereira has also never missed weight which shows that he belongs as a middleweight. It also seems likely he will rematch Israel Adesanya in his next fight.

Do you agree with Brendan Schaub?