Hold on there a moment, Alex Pereiera at heavyweight fans: “Poatan,” following a successful title defense by Dricus Du Plessis over Israel Adesanya, has suggested a move back down to 185lbs.
At UFC 305, Du Plessis became the first man to submit “The Last Stylebender” care of a fourth-round rear-naked choke. The victory extended the South African’s impressive UFC run, which includes wins over Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, and Sean Strickland, all three former champs at 185lbs. As far as recent history goes, the only other champion remaining for Du Plessis to face would be Pereira — who currently holds gold at light heavyweight, with talk of a move to heavyweight gaining traction.
However, following Du Plessis’ victory on Saturday, Pereira signaled a move back down to 185. “Coming down to 185 one more time,” Pereira posted on social media, next to a photo of him sitting next to a television with Du Plessis on the screen following his latest triumph.
Du Plessis, however, would rather be the one to go up, if only to eliminate any excuses should he come away from the fight victorious. He made his response during Saturday’s post-fight press conference.
“I honestly don’t think Alex Pereira should drop down to 185,” du Plessis stated (h/t MMA Fighting). “If he wants to, great, perfect. But then we’re going to hear the excuses. I saw Izzy stiff that man in the first round. I felt Izzy’s punching power tonight. Izzy has great timing, he’s fast, he’s long and he has great combinations, but I felt the power.
“If Izzy stiffens you like that, you do not want to be in there with me, especially not when you’ve got to come in there with the excuses, ‘Oh, I cut too much weight.’ That’s going to happen. Everybody’s going to say it.”
And so, rather than a fight at middleweight, Dricus Du Plessis suggested a move up to 205 pounds for himself.
“Stay at 205, fight your fight against the No. 8 ranked guy,” he said in reference to the recently announced Pereira-Khalil Rountree Jr. fight in Salt Lake City. “Fight your fight there and enjoy it. If Strickland is the next fight, the people want to see that fight — if that’s the fight that people want to see and that’s the fight right now people think is the next best guy, then it’s the fight that I want. So let me handle my business, you handle your business.
“You don’t have to cut the weight so you have some sort of excuse. I’ll come up after the Strickland fight. I’ll come up to 205 and we’ll sort it out there.”
Over the past year, Alex Pereira has seen his star skyrocket, after stepping in to save both UFC 300, where he knocked out Jamahal Hill, and UFC 303, where he defeated Jiri Prochazka for a second time.
