Alex
Pereira has seemingly moved on from the Ultimate Fighting
Championship’s middleweight division for good.
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Pereira was just three fights and a year into his stint with the
promotion when he secured a middleweight title shot against
Israel
Adesanya. “Poatan” won the strap, lost it in a rematch, moved
up to light heavyweight and is now slated to make another gold bid
— all within the span of another 12 months.
As Pereira goes into his UFC 295 clash against Jiri
Prochazka for the vacant light heavyweight belt, the Brazilian
seems to have moved on from the prospect of competing for the
middleweight strap down the line.
The former two-division kickboxing champion recently shared that he
has no plans of cutting back down to 185 pounds, especially with
the recent change in the title picture.
“Poatan” would have considered a trilogy clash against former champ
and long-time rival Adesanya, who was dethroned by Sean
Strickland in a huge upset at UFC 293. The Brazilian, who
earned his initial title shot with a brutal Round 1 knockout win
over Strickland, now considers the Anaheim, California, native his
friend. The two seemed to have formed a relationship following
their meeting inside the Octagon and have even trained together on
a few occasions.
“No, no, it’s not in my plans,” Pereira said on ”The
MMA Hour” recently. “My plan was if Israel
Adesanya was still the champion there, maybe win the light
heavyweight belt and make a fight with him, but now, no. Sean is my
friend and it’s not a weight cut I’m looking to do. I always make
that weight, never miss weight or anything like that, but it is a
hard weight cut. So, right now it’s not in my interest.”