UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira reclaimed his title at UFC 320 when he defeated Magomedov Ankalaev in an 80-second knockout. Now, the newly crowned champion is ready to test himself in another division.
Following his victory, Pereira revealed he still plans to move divisions and possibly make a shift to heavyweight to face Jon Jones. The mention of the pound-for-pound showdown had fans wondering if this could be the superfight they’ve been waiting for. While Pereira contemplates his next move, Dana White made it clear he’s not exactly thrilled about the idea.
“So today I was at work and had a bunch of meetings over there this afternoon, and I went over to the [UFC Performance Institute] and [Alex Pereira] was over in the P.I.,” White revealed during the UFC 320 post-fight press conference. “I’m like, ‘Well, you’re the last guy I expected to see here today. What are you doing here?’ They’re telling me, ‘We want to fight at heavyweight.’ I said, ‘How about we win tonight and focus on tonight, and then we can talk about heavyweight.’
“I don’t know. There are still fights here in this division, but we’ll see. This guy has been an absolute stud for us. He’s on vacation in Australia, flies over and fights because somebody fell out. He fights when he’s hurt. He doesn’t care. He wants to fight everybody. He wants to move up to heavyweight. He’s a dream to have in this organization.”
The MMA mogul expressed concern about how the former middleweight champion would fare against the biggest fighters in the sport.
“Probably that he was a middleweight and he’s going to jump up two weight classes in the UFC,” White said when asked why he’s hesitant about Pereira moving to heavyweight. “It’s not like jumping up two weight classes in boxing. It’s a big jump.
“It’s not that I have reservations about it. He’s in a division where there are still some interesting fights. I like the guy so much. We’ll see. We’ll have to talk about it. I just don’t see why—unless he wants to retire—throwing him at heavyweight makes any sense, other than I just end up saying he wants to do it so bad, I’ll just say yes.”
Pereira also mentioned that he has a limited number of cuts left to make 205 pounds, another reason he’s considering a move to heavyweight.
