Alex Pereira is not going anywhere– a minimum of for the time being.
The UFC light heavyweight champ safeguards his throne Saturday, dealing with Khalil Rountree in the primary occasion of UFC 307 in Salt Lake City however he struck the time out button on talks of prospective relocate to middleweight or heavyweight next.
Asked at his UFC 307 media day look on Wednesday if he would rather acquire more weight and challenge a heavyweight next or cut down to 185 pounds and attempt and restore his title from Dricus du Plessis, “Poatan” stated he would remain right where he is.
“I would select to protect my belt,” Pereira stated. “Because it takes a scheduled work to reduce in weight, and it takes organized work to go up too, however it's best for this department.”
Pereira left the middleweight department after losing a rematch to Israel Adesanya in April of 2023 and ended the year as 205-pound champ with a knockout win over Jiri Prochazka.
The Brazilian currently safeguarded his UFC title two times in 2024, stopping Jamahal Hill and Prochazka by knockout, and just recently stated he would have an interest in going back to middleweight to contend versus du Plessis after dealing with Rountree.
The UFC has yet to state who's next in line at either department, however Magomed Ankalaev is anticipated to make a chance at Pereira if he beats Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308 later on this month. Sean Strickland, who belonged to Pereira's camp for UFC 307, is intending to deal with du Plessis next for middleweight gold.
Pereira satisfied UFC heavyweight champ Jon Jones at The Sphere in Las Vegas, throughout UFC 306. In spite of an online project for “Poatan” to go to heavyweight and perhaps deal with Jones for a 3rd belt, he's more thinking about training with the UFC legend.
“He's made it quite clear that he's just doing another battle and retiring,” Pereira stated. “And I'm not even part of this department, so I would be far from doing that battle. And I have an open mind, so training and gaining from him is something I would definitely do.”
