The term “touch of death” is attributed to fighters with severe knockout power. Guys like Francis Ngannou. Anthony Johnson. Mike Tyson. But one could argue that the title of nastiest puncher in UFC history goes to Alex Perreira. In a recently released post-fight sound bite, Joe Rogan reveals what UFC referee, Marc Goddard, told him about reffing Alex Perreira’s fights. In short, over his 20-year career, he’s never heard or seen anything like it (watch the clip below).
And this Saturday, March 9, Alex Perreira defends his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 in Las Vegas. Although Ankalaev, yet another dangerous Dagestani, is arguably Perreira’s toughest test to date, some people can’t help but look past him, seduced by the prospect of what lies in store for Perreira should he win on Saturday night.
After Jon Jones effortlessly torched the greatest heavyweight of all time (although I personally disagree with that statement), Stipe Miocic, back in November 2024, and further cemented his own position as the undisputed g.o.a.t. of MMA, the one post fight question was: what now?
Jon Jones’s last few fight at light heavyweight were boring and uninspiring, despite winning every single one. Still, it looked as if the fire had been extinguished, and now he was simply just in cruise control. Surely, gaining a beer belly and moving up in weight, especially for someone with notoriously soft punches, couldn’t work. Two embarrassingly dominant wins at heavyweight later, and ‘Bones’ has continued to prove that some men are just built different.
Which brings us to Alex Perreira.
In a recent ESPN interview, Dana White said we can expect Jon Jones back in the octagon this summer, and hinted that Alex wants to fight Jon, and Jon has openly stated he wants to fight Alex. However, if you follow any MMA related Instagram account, you’ll have seen a flood of comments lambasting Jon Jones for not fighting the aptly deserving, young and dangerous, Tom Aspinall. He’s the current interim heavyweight champion, and it really is the only fight that makes sense, something Dana has also agreed with (mind you that confusing, if not conflicting, statements from the UFC boss are nothing out of the ordinary, so take that with a pinch of salt).
Ankalaev is cut from the same cloth of destruction only found in the mythical like mountains of Russia’s Dagestan, and that part of the world has yet to breed a single fighter who isn’t the human embodiment of a buzzsaw. What’s even more interesting is that being a practicing Muslim, Ankalev is fasting for Ramadan this month, but he has admitted that in the last week leading up to his fight, he will be drinking water during his regular fasting hours simply in order not to jeopardise his training. Still, as former UFC champion Daniel Cormier once said, Alex Perreira is the closest thing we have to Thanos in the real world, so UFC 313 will be quite the spectacle, if not mostly for what potentially awaits in store for a victorious Alex Perreira. And if he loses, Dagestan will bring home yet another UFC title, as the rest of the world wonders what the heck they put in the drinking water over there.
Chama!
You can watch UFC 313 in the UAE on Starzplay and the UFC Arabia app.
