Bellator champion Johnny Eblen believes he would beat Alex Pereira “ten times out of ten” in possible fight: “He would have had to start wrestling 10 years ago”

By Josh Evanoff - February 7, 2023

Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen feels good about a fight against Alex Pereira.

‘The Human Cheat Code’ returned to the cage over the weekend in the co-main event of Bellator 290. At the event, Eblen looked to make his first title defense since capturing the middleweight gold against Gegard Mousasi last June.

For his first title defense, the newly crowned champion was matched up with Team Fedor’s Anatoly Tokov. The Russian was riding a seven-fight winning streak heading into the event, but it wouldn’t matter. At Bellator 290, Eblen dominated en route to a unanimous decision victory.

With the win, Johnny Eblen moved to 13-0 in his professional career, with not a single fight of that run being all that close. It’s likely thanks to his undefeated record that the middleweight champion feels confident against Alex Pereira.

The Bellator champion discussed a fight against ‘Poatan’ in a recent appearance on The MMA Hour alongside Ariel Helwani. There, Eblen stated that he would win ten times out of ten in a possible matchup with the Brazilian.

Alex Pereira, UFC

Image via LFA on Facebook (Photo Credit: Jerry Chavez)

“I think I beat him. Ten times out of 10, I beat him,” Eblen stated on The MMA Hour. “I’m too much for the guy. I am a style matchup disaster for him. He’s a style matchup [that’s] great for me. I have great cardio, I can hit hard, I can take a punch, and I mix up the striking and wrestling really well. I don’t see him beating me. There’s no way. The ability for how well I wrestle, you can’t make up for that, especially with the time that he has in MMA. There’s no way. He’s too old. He would have had to start wrestling 10 years ago. So I think I’m a bad style matchup for him and I think I beat him 10 times out of 10.” (h/t MMA Fighting)

He continued, “I think I can beat anybody on the planet. I’m one of the best, if not the best middleweight on the planet. I can’t say for sure, factually, because I haven’t fought everybody, but I think I match up damn well with every single middleweight in the world and I think I can win every single fight.”

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Alex Pereira Bellator UFC