UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira recently signed a deal to return in March to face Magomed Ankalaev.
“Poatan” currently has a 13-fight undefeated record and has had three title defences. Pereira is currently having a good run in his career, but there have been rumors that the fighter might move up to the heavyweight division to face Alexander Volkov but Pereira dismissed this news, saying it was all a lie. Despite this false news, Pereira says he is intrigued by the heavyweight and may move up. No fighter has ever won a UFC championship in all divisions, but Pereira says he might try to make history by moving up to battle the champ–Jon Jones.
Heavyweight champ Jon Jones has expressed interest in facing Pereira. “Poatan,” on the other hand is open to this fight and has expressed his interest to Dana White. Jones-vs.-Pereira superfight is an exciting champion-vs.-champion clash, but Pereira will have to get past his fight with light heavyweight challenger Ankalaev. At heavyweight, Jones has the interim champion Tom Aspinall to worry about, but Pereira says he is deadset on facing Jones after all the hurdles have been overcome.
“I’m the champ. I want to fight the champ. Let’s make the fight with Jon Jones… Before Jon’s last fight, we actually talked about fighting.” Alex Pereira stated through a translator on Ariel Helwani’s podcast earlier today. “More random talk, not too much about fighting. [He’s] not a friend or someone I talk with on the regular, but someone I respect. I know he respects me, and there’s mutual respect.”
“I think [Jon wants to fight me], because of the momentum and the risk. It’s a risk fighting Aspinall. There’s not a lot to gain there, it’s another title fight. But fighting Alex is a much bigger achievement… It’s a bigger fight. We saw the fight [with Stipe] later. It was an impressive win and impressive performance.”
“Anything’s possible. A lot of things no one thought could happen happen with me.”
Pereira is coming off an exceptional year in 2024. He notched three successful title defences with three decisive knockouts and came within a hair’s breadth of being Uncrowned’s Fighter of the Year. The 37-year-old champion said he has no plans to slow down in 2025 and is hoping for three more title fights within this calendar year.
