Now that light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is no longer competing in the middleweight division, former titleholder Robert Whittaker has become a fan of the Brazilian.  

Pereira is a combat sports veteran with 40 professional kickboxing bouts.  He arrived in the UFC in November 2021, largely known to mixed marital arts fans as the guy that beat Israel Adesanya twice in kickboxing.  In his fourth UFC bout he became the guy that held three wins over "The Last Stylebender" and captured the middleweight title.    

After losing to Adesanya in the rematch, Pereira moved up a weight class and won the 205-pound championship in his second fight in the division.  He successfully defended the belt at UFC 300 against former champion Jamahal Hill.  Pereira knocked Hill out in the first round.  

"My relationship with Alex is weird because I personally make it a point not to like any other middleweight just because they are potential opponents.  I don't want to get to know them that way.  I don't want to start blurring lines between my side of the fence and their side of the fence.  Understandably, it's all business and it's not personal but still I like drawing a line in the sand," Whittaker said on the MMArcade Podcast.  

"Him being a middleweight at the time put him on my radar in that respect.  But then he moved to light heavy and he's doing his thing in light heavy.  The longer he's in hight heavy the more I'm starting to like the guy," Whittaker continued.  "The more I'm starting to like the way he approaches fights.  I've got to say, he's got to be one of the coolest fighters at the moment in my opinion.  

"His walkout is just so stoic and strong.  Even that bow and arrow thing that he does with the scream is so cool.  And then we look at his actual fighting prowess.  The dude is just a phenom in the standup game.  He's leagues ahead of most other, definitely any other light heavyweight, but most people in the game I feel."