“Of course, brother, I could beat him with his coach [Glover] Teixeira together. I will beat them both sometime.” With that bold declaration, Khamzat Chimaev once again made it clear that he wants to lure Alex Pereira into the Octagon. Both men are riding high off massive victories. ‘Borz’ recently dethroned Dricus Du Plessis to claim the UFC middleweight title, while Pereira avenged his loss to Magomed Ankalaev to reclaim the light heavyweight crown.

‘Poatan,’ however, seems to have his sights set elsewhere. After his win over Ankalaev, he called out Jon Jones for a fight on next year’s UFC White House card. But with Jones’ future in the UFC uncertain, Tom Aspinall has emerged as a possible alternative. Clearly, despite Chimaev’s public challenge, Pereira doesn’t seem too keen. And now UFC legend-turned-analyst Chael Sonnen has even invoked Georges St-Pierre’s example to advise Pereira against facing Chimaev.

Alex Pereira should follow Georges St-Pierre’s example

Chael Sonnen hasn’t ever been afraid to cough up his opinions, and that’s exactly what he did in his latest video. Speaking about Chimaev’s latest callout for the Brazilian, he remembered Georges St-Pierre. “Nothing ever stuck to Georges St-Pierre. But Georges never called anyone out. Georges never challenged people. Georges never talked trash about people. So when people tried to do it to him… it was the same as if it never happened,” Sonnen said. 

Later in the video, he highlighted that Pereira’s path forward should be debuting at heavyweight. Why? Well, because that’s the only way the Brazilian will make history. “Alex Pereira is one win away from being the greatest fighter of all time… It’s not a debate if he goes 3 for 3. If Alex Pereira [were] to beat Tom Aspinall, we [wouldn’t] have a conversation about GOAT anymore. We just say Alex Pereira [is the GOAT] if he were to be the first-ever triple champion.”

Turning to Chimaev’s callout, Sonnen highlighted that ‘Borz’ has been after Pereira for a long while. “Chimaev was looking for Pereira when Pereira was an 85-pounder. Chimaev then became an 85-pounder… Chimaev’s been looking for Pereira since Pereira was a 205-pounder,” Sonnen said. He pointed out that the Russian hasn’t even cleaned out the division, but talks about Pereira. “Chimaev has never fought Israel Adesanya, the king of the middleweight division.”

He questioned whether that even mattered, answering himself later. “I’m saying as one of the biggest voices in the sport… that my stance won’t just be Alex Pereira is the GOAT… You no longer get an opinion, it is Alex Pereira if he goes champ, champ, champ,” Sonnen concluded in the video. From a legacy standpoint, Sonnen is right. While Chimaev is a fun fight, it’s not legacy-defining, especially since Pereira could become the first triple champion. 

But let’s say Pereira ends up fighting Khamzat Chimaev. Can the Russian fighter win? 

Dricus Du Plessis claims Chimaev doesn’t stand a chance against Pereira

Despite losing to Chimaev earlier this year, former middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis doesn’t see the Russian fighter beating Alex Pereira. He feels Chimaev is just setting himself up for failure by targeting the light heavyweight king. “I mean, he’s always had crazy callouts,” Du Plessis told Fight Forecast. 

“Khamzat, there’s no way he beats Pereira, in my opinion.” Du Plessis was stunned by how big Pereira looked during his fight with Ankalaev. “I think Pereira, right now, is one of the greatest to ever do this sport,” he said. “Even right now at light heavyweight, he looked so big against Ankalaev, it was crazy.” 

Du Plessis added bluntly, “That’s all hype. I don’t think there’s any realistic chance of that ever happening.” 

That said, everyone appears to be getting behind Pereira’s potential move to heavyweight. But who he ends up fighting there is yet to be seen. What do you think Alex Pereira should do?