Alex Pereira is booked to face Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335 in December. This will be the second heavyweight bout for the former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion.
As he prepares to face the hard-hitting Pavlovich, Pereira has received a visit from one of the UFC’s heavyweight GOAT; Cain Velasquez. I wonder if they talked about Daniel Cormier?
Check out this video from Velasquez’s Instagram account, which was posted early this morning.
The video shows Velasquez, a former NCAA Division I
wrestler, showing Pereira how to navigate both ends of the bodylock. He seemed particularly happy with how Pereira began to escape the bodylock.
Around the same time, Velasquez also shared a picture of him posing with other active fighters at the UFC Performance Institute, including heavyweights Johnny Walker and Sean Sharaf.
Velasquez, who turned 44 this summer, looks in great shape. However, there remains no news on whether the former UFC heavyweight champion will return to MMA competition anytime soon (or ever).
For Pereira, Velasquez can likely offer a lot of expertise when it comes to wrestling. Poatan’s reputation as one of the deadliest strikers in UFC history is unquestionable. But it’s fair to say not many folks are that excited about his wrestling and grappling acumen.
This light training with Velasquez is unlikely to be tied to any specific strategy Pereira is planning for Pavlovich. Pavlovich has won almost eighty percent of his UFC fights by KO/TKO. If he gets a bodylock on Pereira, he’s likely going to look to separate and then land a right hook.
If Pereira does show some improved wrestling at UFC 335, against someone else who is not at home on the wrestling mats, then maybe this session with Velasquez was a lot more meaningful than it initially seems.
