When Joe Rogan accused Alex Pereira of "sanctioned cheating" after UFC 281 title win over Israel Adesanya

Alex Pereira's size has become a frequent talking point, and first gained prominence when Joe Rogan shared his thoughts about it following the Brazilian's comeback TKO win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 281. In doing so, 'Poatan' captured the UFC middleweight title.

However, he has always been large for the weight class, dwarfing even Adesanya, who is no small middleweight. This drove Rogan to describe Pereira's ability to cut weight to 185 pounds as "sanctioned cheating" due to the improbability of it being done by someone of the Brazilian's size.

While talking to Steve-O on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the UFC color commentator touched on the extremes of weight-cutting after being asked by his guest about rumors that Pereira weighed in at 220 pounds for UFC 281. He said:

"He [Alexi Pereira] could have been, he could have been. I mean, he certainly, he gets above that in-between fights, and he has a hard time making 185 [pounds]."

When Steve-O spoke about having scales before fighters enter the cage to determine how much they weigh on fight night, Rogan shared further thoughts on weight-cutting.

"It's a bullsh*t thing. It's basically sanctioned cheating, it really is, but everybody does it. But Izzy [Israel Adesanya] does it [cutting weight]. When Izzy went up to fight Jan Błachowicz at light heavyweight, he weighed 194 [pounds], which is crazy, because Błachowicz is a giant light heavyweight."

Check out Joe Rogan talking about Alex Pereira's middleweight cuts (11:00 and 11:57):

Pereira's middleweight stint didn't last long, though he did score marquee wins over Sean Strickland and Israel Adesanya, stopping both of them.

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Alex Pereira ultimately moved up to light heavyweight

As a massive middleweight, Alex Pereira's future seemed destined to include a light heavyweight run, especially given his previous kickboxing exploits in the weight class when he was a Glory fighter. He has since gone on to become the UFC light heavyweight champion.

The Brazilian has not only captured the 205-pound belt, but he has beaten nothing but champions since his divisional ascension. He currently has two title defenses under his belt, with the first having been a UFC 300 knockout of Jamahal Hill, while his most recent one was a knockout of Jiří Procházka in a rematch.