Alex
Pereira has created a stir by announcing that his desire to
return to the middleweight division.
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Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil
Rountree in the main event at UFC 307
on Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The
Brazilian had previously expressed interest in moving back down to
middleweight after Dricus Du
Plessis’ successful title defense against Israel
Adesanya at UFC 305
last month. Pereira recently revealed that he is now decided on
moving to 185 pounds after his clash against Rountree, regardless
of the result.
“I’m focused on my next fight and I’m going prepared but you never
know what can happen, so regardless of the result I want to go down
one more time to the middleweight and go for the belt, “Pereira
wrote on Instagram. “Hey Dricus, bring your will to
fight me so you can prove that you are better than me, with your
public statement it is easy to make this happen. Chama.”
Widely considered the rightful title challenger at light
heavyweight is Magomed
Ankalaev, who now fights Aleksandar
Rakic at UFC 308
on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi. Ankalaev and Pereira have been recently
trading shots over the champ’s allegations of the Russian turning
down a title shot. Pereira’s decision to move to middleweight did
not fail to draw a reaction from Ankalaev.
“You are so weak [Alex Pereira],’ Ankalaev wrote on X. “You only
pick on the guys who are in lower division than you and you think
you can beat them. People are not stupid. There is a reason why you
are fighting Khalil and not me.”
You are so weak @AlexPereiraUFC
you only pick on the guys who are in lower division than you and
you think you can beat them people are not stupid there is a reason
why you are fighting Khalil and not me https://t.co/8rhBH18kre— Magomed Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM)
September 3, 2024
Meanwhile, Du Plessis coach Morne Visser had initially expressed
interest in the Pereira matchup, but only at middleweight. However,
the middleweight champ is now seemingly ready to defend his strap
against Pereira. Du Plessis verbally expressed interest in the idea
but not without an element of humor. Pereira’s former foe turned
friend Sean
Strickland adamantly awaits a title shot at 185 pounds after
bouncing back from a narrow split-decision title loss against Du
Plessis with a win over Paulo
Costa. “Stillknocks” suggested Pereira to domestically sort out
title contention issues with his “boyfriend” Strickland.
“[Alex Pereira] you and [your] boyfriend [Sean Strickland] can have
a domestic dispute on who gets slept first,” Du Plessis wrote.
@AlexPereiraUFC
you and you boyfriend @SStricklandMMA
can have a domestic dispute on who gets slept first💤😴— Dricus Du Plessis (@dricusduplessis)
September 3, 2024
Meanwhile, UFC CEO Dana White seemingly likes the idea of Pereira
moving up and down wherever he wants to. White appreciates the
range of options Pereira’s potential move opens up for
matchmaking.
“He’s f—-ing nasty, that’s my take on him,” White said at a press
conference following the Contender Series on Tuesday. “He wants to
move up, he wants to move down… That’s why people love him, those
are the type of fighters that people love. Pereira wants to fight
everybody, I love it… It also gives us a ton of options that as
we’re in matchmaking, ‘should we do this, should we do that’… It’s
a good problem to have with a guy like him.”