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Legendary coach says Alex Pereira too undersized for heavyweight bounceback

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3 weeks ago

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Legendary coach says Alex Pereira too undersized for heavyweight bounceback
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Darren Till gets honest about his performance in win over Yoel Romero
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Legendary Mixed Martial Arts coach Ray Longo believes Alex Pereira isn't well qualified for a potential heavyweight rebound performance.

Former two-division UFC champion Alex Pereira will return to the Octagon in December against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335. After a disastrous heavyweight debut at UFC Freedom 250, Pereira will look to earn a potential title shot against the battle-tested Pavlovich in a five-round co-headliner.

Pereira's heavyweight return will come six months after a TKO loss to Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title at the White House. He vacated the UFC light heavyweight title earlier this year to make the full-time move to the heavyweight division.

Pereira will look to add another highlight-reel performance to his resume and earn his first heavyweight win. Despite his strong stature and skill set, a legendary coach believes Pereira doesn't have the proper frame to compete with the elite heavyweights.

Ray Longo: Alex Pereira too small to compete with elite UFC heavyweights

During a recent appearance on the Anik & Florian podcast, well-renowned coach Ray Longo shared a brutally honest evaluation of Pereira's heavyweight future.

“I really love him as a fighter, but I think it maybe takes a little bit of an eye—forget the head, the illegal shots, they were horrible—but I saw nothing before that lets me believe that he could beat him in a rematch,†Longo said of Pereira.

“I just saw the size difference, the way he was moving. Alex, it's Bobby Green-esque. He's got the power, but he keeps his hands down. When you get with these bigger guys now, can he take the power coming back is the problem because you even watch his sparring; it's not like he's a guy that doesn't get hit. He likes to get hit and come back.

“These guys, I think, might be too big,†Longo continued on Pereira. “They're really, really big guys. I don't know. We'll see how he does with Sergei, but I think that's going to be a tough fight, too, because the way his style is, I don't think he can afford to get hit by these guys. At 185, big difference. 250, I don't know.†(h/t MMA Fighting)

What is your prediction for Alex Pereira vs. Sergei Pavlovich? Share your thoughts in the comments!

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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MMA

UFC Vegas 123 ‘Moicano vs. Nolan’ play-by-play, results & round scoring

Published

8 hours ago

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October 31, 2026

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UFC Vegas 123 ‘Moicano vs. Nolan’ play-by-play, results & round scoring

Sherdog’s live
UFC Vegas 123 coverage will begin Saturday at 5 p.m. ET. The
event is also known as
UFC Fight Night 292.

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

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Brian Knapp scores the round:
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Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

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Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

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The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

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The Official Result

Round 1

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Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

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Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

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Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

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Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

Round 1

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 2

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 3

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 4

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

Round 5

Sherdog Scores

Brian Knapp scores the round:
Tudor Leonte scores the round:
Mike Sloan scores the round:

The Official Result

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MMA

Canelo vs. Mbilli Results: Live updates of the undercard and main event

Published

9 hours ago

on

October 31, 2026

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Canelo vs. Mbilli Results: Live updates of the undercard and main event

MMA Fighting has Canelo vs. Mbilli results for the Canelo Alvarez vs. Christian Mbilli fight card and more for one of the most highly anticipated events of the year at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday.

When the main event begins around 4:30 p.m. ET, check out our Canelo vs. Mbilli live round-by-round updates for our live blog of the main event. Canelo Alvarez tries to win the WBC super middleweight title and hand Christian Mbilli his first professional loss.

Check out Canelo vs. Mbilli results below.

Canelo vs. Mbilli Main Event

Canelo Alvarez vs. Christian Mbilli

Canelo vs. Mbilli undercard (DAZN PPV at 2 p.m. ET)

Jaime Munguia vs. Nikita Zon

Rafael Espinoza vs. Ricardo Blandon

Reito Tsutsumi vs. Raymundo Rojas

David Picasso vs. Carl Jammes Martin

Canelo vs. Mbilli prelims (MMA Fighting at 10 a.m. ET)

Sultan Almohammed vs. Erick Villegas

Bek Nurmaganbet vs. Marcos Vazquez

Emiliano Rojo vs. Flavius Biea

Brayan Leon vs. Hector Aguirre

For more on Jaime Munguia vs Nikita Zon, check out the live blog below.

Jaime Munguia vs. Nikita Zon

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MMA

Ciryl Gane defended from cheater accusations by two former UFC champions: "He wasn’t going for it on purpose"

Published

20 hours ago

on

October 30, 2026

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Ciryl Gane defended from cheater accusations by two former UFC champions: "He wasn’t going for it on purpose"
Trending:

Pros react after Alexander Volkanovski TKO's Movsar Evloev at UFC 333
Zuffa LLC

Two former UFC titleholders are coming to the defense of Ciryl Gane amid a cheater label.

Some believe that Gane has bent the rules in his favor in past fights, particularly with eye pokes and illegal strikes. “Bon Gamin†came under fire for his double eye poke foul against Tom Aspinall, who still hasn't fought since Oct. 2025 due to his injuries. Gane was also scrutinized for landing illegal elbows to the back of Alex Pereira's head in their UFC Freedom 250 fight back in June.

While some have called Gane a cheater, former rivals Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw disagree with that notion. During a recent edition of the “Love & War Podcast,†Cruz said that during his fighting days, he'd take the blame himself if he was ever got poked in the eye (via MMAFighting).

“I always said if you can poke me in my f*cking eye, I'm doing something wrong,†Cruz said. “You can punch me in my head. Trying to my head is so f*cking hard, if you can poke me in the eye, that's my problem, so we agree on that and I think that's why he's not a cheater.â€

Dillashaw agreed with Cruz, saying that he thinks people have the wrong idea about Gane over his accidental fouls.

“I don't think he is [a cheater],†Dillashaw said. “It's gotten blown out of the water since the Pereira fight. Obviously, everyone's a Pereira fan and they wanted him to win and they want to call the illegal blows. He wasn't going for it on purpose and Pereira's moving his head as he's hitting those. I think Herb Dean's unfortunately catching a lot of flack as well, too.â€

Gane was promoted as the UFC heavyweight champion due to Aspinall remaining sidelined. He will put his gold at stake against Josh Hokit in the UFC 334 main event on Nov. 14 in New York City.

Do you think the cheater label towards Ciryl Gane is unfair, or have you seen enough fouls to the point where it's justified? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

This article appeared first on BJPENN.COM

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