ESPN’s Middleweight Rankings Sees Huge Overhaul Following UFC 276

The UFC 276 proved to be a huge success not only in terms of numbers but also unveiled the future title contenders.

At the same time, a few performances on the PPV also saw a huge shake-over in the rankings. And the fighter that made the tremendous gains in rankings is the Brazilian knockout artist, Alex Pereira.

Brazilian has entered the Top-10 of the division and is seeded at No. 7 among middleweights.

Closely following him at the No. 8 is the newly crowned Bellator Champion, Johnny Eblen who ended the long reign of Gerard Mousasi last month.

Pereira was up against the powerhouse Sean Strickland on the July 2 card in Las Vegas.

The Brazilian striker landed crisp shots the moment the bell rang, slowly picking apart the American. And it was the mid of the first round when the ‘Poatan’ landed a straight right and turned the lights out of Strickland.

It was Pereira’s seventh fight of his MMA career. He may be new to MMA but is no stranger to the combat world.

He has experience in 40 kickboxing bouts during which he conquered both middleweight and light heavyweight in the Glory promotion.

Interestingly, Pereira has already met the current UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in the kickboxing ring, winning on both occasions. And one of that win’s over Adesanya was by knockout.