Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — UFC light heavyweight champ Alex Pereira is fresh off a stunning, memorable finish of Jamamal Hill to cap off UFC 300, but he’s already thinking about what comes next.
Just who that comes against is the question, mere weeks removed from a historic night that saw both Pereira, now arguably the biggest Brazilian star in the UFC, and old foe Jiri Prochazkia both pick up wins. On hand for a media scrum on Thursday in lieu of a traditional press conference for UFC 301, Pereira (10-2) joked that he had some news to break.
“Breaking news,” he said when asked if Prochazka should perhaps face Magomed Ankalaev first, before a potential rematch. “Well, I think if I wait for that fight, it’ll take too long. I want to fight earlier than that. And I think that’s why as you know, most likely the next in line is going to be [Jiri] Prochazka.”
Ankalaev, who hasn’t come close to a title shot since a dull 205lb title fight against Jan Blachowicz a couple of years back, “is going to have to wait a little bit,” Pereira added. “I know Jamahal Hill has been talking some trash about us, but I’d have to wait a little longer. I think Prochazka is the next one.”
Hill is booked into a fight with Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 303. Ankalaev, meanwhile, fought Johnny Walker in January, and doesn’t have a fight officially announced as of yet.
Pereira noted, however, that nothing is set in stone in terms of an opponent. “We told them when we want to fight. Nothing about nobody yet, we don’t know. But [due to the time frame] it’s likely to be Prochazka.”
“But, anyone out there that wants to fight, we’ll go with it,” the light heavyweight champ added.
If it does turn out to be a rematch with Prochazka next for Alex Pereira, it seems he’s not expecting a vastly different fighter from the man he faced last year.
“I don’t think he will show up too much of a different fighter, because compared to my evolution that I’ve had in just a few MMA fights, he has over 20 fights. He’s been fighting for a long time,” Pereira opined. “So I think for every fighter, you get to that point that you start evolving less due to the mileage that you have in this game. Due to the amount of fights they have and experience. So I think I’m going to evolve more from the previous fight than he does.”
Watch the full UFC 301 press scrum with Alex Pereira above.
