There are a lot of people out there that say that Alex hasn't been truly challenged in the UFC because he hasn't faced any truly capable wrestlers in the time that he has spent in UFC. Israel Adesanya is a great wrestler, but for reasons he normally chooses to stay on his feet as much as possible.
Izzy's strong wrestling wasn't really a factor in that match because he ended up getting a KO in the 2nd round much to the surprise of everyone that was watching.
This weekend he has a different kind of fighter in one of Dagestan's finest, Magomed Ankalaev.
I am in no way trying to state that none of Pereira's opponents were good wrestlers but what I am trying to say is that there is a reason why the Dagestan "crew" is so feared in the MMA community as of late. They are good at everything, just like you would expect, but they seem to be ready to go to the ground and keep it there for long periods of time. Ankalaev is no slouch standing either, so it's not like all Alex has to do is work really hard and defending the takedown in order to secure a victory here.
Pereira is a crowd favorite and with good reason: he always puts on a good show and he is about as dangerous as they come as far as striking is concerned. He hasn't shown us very much in the way of ground game, but let's not take this to mean that he doesn't have any. When you work that hard with a team like his for as long as he has, you are prepared for everything.
It seems as though the bookie world doesn't really know how to handle this situation but I believe they are counting on Alex having the other-worldly power that he and a few other guys possess. If he gets a single shot through, it's basically lights out for 99% of the people on the planet, Dagestan's residents included.
I am not going to touch this one from a betting perspective as no really good offers exist out there, which is something you can expect from the betting world. Their odds change depending on the amount of bets that they get in a certain direction and the fact that the odds have gone down to the point where there is a negative odd on BOTH fighters indicate that there are a ton of bets on both fighters to the point where nobody really has an edge here.
You have to go pretty far down the card to see any sort of clear winner in the lineup and that is the Alex Morono vs Carlos Leal bout where Leal is favored at -900 meaning that if you bet on him and he wins, you get almost nothing for your correct choice.
Tomorrow's fight has the opportunity to be one of the best of the year and I am really looking forward to it. I just hope that Alex Pereira is prepared for the ground game because if Ankalaev starts to feel threatened on his feet, that is almost certainly where he is going to try to take the fight.