Salt Lake City, UT — There’s a certain amount of surprise at seeing Alex Pereira back in action, moving up a weight class, barely three months on from a knockout loss at the hands of Israel Adesanya in Miami.
Pereira, now a former middleweight champ and former middleweight, moves to 205lbs at UFC 291 this Saturday, making his debut in the weight class against Jan Blachowicz.
Why the quick turnaround? Pereira (7-2) laid that out at Wednesday’s UFC 291 media day, speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press.
“Everybody’s body acts different. So in my case you can see, I feel that it was the right time,” said Pereira. “I didn’t need this much of a break, I just needed a rest so I could recover from the fight a little bit to see, from my last fight, what happened. But the way that I walked into the locker room, the way that I was talking, you guys could tell it was not that bad. So I think it’s the right moment.”
It’s a move that has come an an opportune time. With Jamahal Hill vacating the promotion’s light heavyweight title, the belt is up for grabs. The winner of Pereira vs. Blachowicz — a former middleweight champ versus a former light heavyweight champ — is expected to compete for the championship next. There was even some suggestion Pereira vs. Blachowicz might be shifted to a title fight, but Pereira explained on Wednesday that that was never presented to him.
“No, nobody had this conversation but at the same time, if we did have, I kept my eyes on it. I was ready,” stated Pereira. “I’m 36 years old, it’s not like I have too much time to wait.”
Perhaps the most surprising news from Alex Pereira was this: Sean Strickland, who Pereira knocked out a year ago and who has become known for courting controversy, might actually be a nice guy.
“He’s actually a very nice guy. Swears a lot, but nice guy,” opined Pereira. “Maybe he does that for the cameras, but he came to Glover [Teixeira]’s gym, nice guy, humble guy. Also the atmosphere there is family, it’s a family gym, has kids. There’s all types of people there. The guy’s gotta adapt to the vibe, not the vibe adapt to the guy. But nobody had to get his attention, he just blended in very good.”
Pereira didn’t pick up any English from the colorful Strickland, however. “Learning English from Sean Strickland is not a good future, but the [fighting] techniques, yes for sure. He was able to show some stuff.”
Watch the full UFC 291 media day appearance by Alex Pereira above.
