Alex Pereira Acknowledges Ilia Topuria And Ready To Share 2024 Fighter Of The Year Trophy With Him

Alex Pereira was awarded the 2024 Fighter of the Year for his three title defenses in 2024. But Ilia Topuria also made his case, considering the quality of his opponents.

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Topuria first took the featherweight title from Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 and later defended the title against Max Holloway at UFC 308. He knocked out both the former champions in a dominant fashion.

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Pereira on the other hand, faced Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka and Khalil Rountree Jr. He defended the light-heavyweight title against them via knockout.

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In an interview with Ariel Helwani, Pereira said that fans were right to be rooting for Topuria, since he seemed to bring a lot of joy to them and as such deserves the award as much as he did.

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“I will share this [award] with him because he’s also done great things and he’s a great guy who brings a lot of joy to people, so he deserves the award too… We both are the best fighters of 2024.”

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The Brazilian powerhouse is being generous but he could claim solo dominion over the award and there would be few to complain. Two out of three of his fights had been against former world champions and were taken on short notice to save UFC PPVs.

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If an argument were to be made against his ascension to the top, it would be his refusal to fight Magomed Anlalaev for a whole year of his title reign.

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Pereira’s opponents, through sheer stroke of luck, were strikers who were either incapable or unwilling to go to the ground to test his grappling abilities.

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Topuria, on the other hand, not just defeated legends, he even challenged champions like Charles Oliveira and Islam Makhachev, who would be a stylistic nightmare for him inside the octagon.

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Alex Pereira’s fight with Ankalaev has been finally confirmed. Since the confirmation, Ankalaev has issued warning after warning, threat after threat, calling Pereira out for ducking and wasting his time.

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