Introduction
Saturday, November 14th, American featherweight prospect Alexei Pergande will be in action for the PFL, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Akhmed Magomedov. He will be looking for another win, as Younousov looks to shed prospect status and become a PFL contender. He represents Kill Cliff FC, a strong camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Well-Rounded: Pergande is really a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none type fighter. He has pretty good striking, especially from distance. He also uses that well to set up his takedowns, which he is able to achieve at a pretty good clip. Once he gets his opponents down, he has a good mix of ground-and-pound and submission skills, with the submissions being his most dangerous weapons on the mat. Because of his long arms, he has really good chokes, specifically the D’arce choke, which he’s used a couple times as pro.
Size/Length: Pergande is a 145-pounder, but is 6’0″, which is very tall for the division. He uses that length well on the feet, as we mentioned before with his distance striking. We also mentioned his long arms for chokes. Overall, his size and length present problems to his opponents who may not be used to a guy in that weight class being so tall and long.
Needs Improvement
Counter-Grappling: While Pergande is a great takedown artist and top-game grappler, he can show some holes in his counter-grappling. In the clinch, he has been outworked with dirty boxing and some well-placed knees. On the mat, guys fighting off their backs have been able to attempt some decent submission/sweep attempts. Pergande is competent on the mat, but he just has a couple holes to fill.
Gas Tank: While he isn’t at a total cardio deficiency, Pergande has shown because of his high output that he can gas down the stretch. In his split decision win over Elvis Lebron-Quiles, he pressed forward like he always does, but showed clear signs of fatigue in the second and third round. Because he is gritty and skilled, he was able to get past that, but it made that fight closer than it should have been.
Outlook
Major League Midcarder: Pergande is clearly a talented fighter and is just 25 years old at this point. He has a bright future ahead of him, whether he sticks with the PFL or explores the UFC when his contract is up. With his size for a featherweight in combination with his skill set, he’s a really tough fighter to deal with. He has the biggest test of his career this weekend against a guy who will test his grappling, but we are seeing great fight-to-fight growth from Pergande.
