In a recent interview with Helen Yee, Bruce Buffer opened up about why he reserved his exclusive “The One. The Only” introduction for Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, and Alex Pereira. Though fans did not voice much disagreement about Buffer giving the other two stars his ultimate privilege, his reason behind entitling ‘Poatan’ did not seem to sit well with them.

During the talk, Buffer revealed that he provided Conor McGregor the exclusive title because of his star power and for being the biggest draw in the UFC. He then chose Jon Jones for his legacy inside the Octagon and for ultimately cementing his status as the UFC GOAT. After that, he described why Alex Pereira deserved to be called “The One. The Only.” 

“And then, of course, recently, Pereira I set it for,” Buffer said. “And I’m sorry to say, when I said it for him, he lost. But again, that has nothing to do with my saying it for him. His accomplishments and where he’s gotten it, came up with the, you know, the one, the only.” 

Buffer didn’t clearly disclose his parameters for calling a fighter “The One. The Only.” However, going by the veteran announcer’s explanation, his reason for bestowing that privilege on Alex Pereira stems from the overall journey in the UFC.

Alex Pereira became the ninth fighter in UFC history to achieve two-division champion status after beating Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295. While that was an astonishing achievement, eight other fighters had accomplished the feat before him. Yet, ‘Poatan’s’ stardom and his success inside the Octagon prompted Bruce to group him alongside Jon Jones and Conor McGregor.

Pereira being a superstar and two-division champion perhaps inspired Buffer to call him “The One. The Only” for the first time when he put his 205-pound title on the line for the 4th time against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313.

After that, the 69-year-old used the exclusive introduction for ‘Poatan’ again against Ciryl Gane at UFC White House in June, when he dared to become a three-division champion.

Unfortunately, the honor has been nothing but a curse for Alex Pereira, because he lost both times Buffer introduced him with it, which the ‘Voice of the Octagon’ also pointed out. In the future, though, Buffer vowed to use it carefully, or else the phrase would lose its meaning.

“But in respect to the future, I’m really going to give this some thought because if I start calling a lot of fighters the one, the only, right, then it takes away from what the one, the only really is,” Buffer added. 

Although there is some substance behind Buffer’s explanation for giving Alex Pereira the exclusive introduction, fans completely disagreed with him. 

Fans call out Bruce Buffer over “one and only” introduction for Alex Pereira

One fan quickly chimed in and wrote, “Realistically Pereira doesn’t deserve this.” Another user had an identical comment, “Pereira don’t deserve it to be honest.”

A different fan believes Islam Makhachev deserves the title more than Pereira, “Pereira has it and Islam doesn’t, yeah give me a break.”

To be fair, Islam Makhachev is definitely a deserving candidate for Bruce Buffer’s exclusive introduction. The Dagestani icon cleared the lightweight division, then won gold at 170 pounds and recently defended the belt at UFC 330 against Ian Garry. In doing so, he broke Anderson Silva’s 16-fight win streak record.

Maybe when Makhachev returns to defend his welterweight belt for the second time, Buffer will call him “The One. The Only.” But in the meantime, fans have been objecting to Pereira getting the title.

A fan believes Buffer giving Pereira the title was extremely premature, “Yeah it was watered down the moment he said it about Pereira! Too premature.”

Interestingly, Bruce Buffer stripped ‘Poatan’ of the exclusive title at the rematch against Ankalaev at UFC 320. So, just like the fan, Buffer figured that the announcement was perhaps too premature.

But after ‘Poatan’ knocked the Russian out and made the heavyweight move to chase greatness at UFC Freedom 250, the long-time announcer brought it back.

Still, a fan feels the Brazilian only deserves the introduction if he had become a three-weight UFC champion.

The fan wrote, “He went crazy with the whole “One & Only” thing and hyped Pereira up before he won the 3rd title. If he had become 3 division champ, then it was definitely deserved. But now, absolutely not. Especially if he loses again in December.”

The fans are clearly not on board with Bruce Buffer continuing to hail Alex Pereira.

Now that the former two-division champion is set to make a comeback against Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event of UFC 335 in December, we will find out whether Bruce introduces him as “The One. The Only.”