Las Vegas — UFC CEO and President Dana White found Alex Pereira working out at the UFC PI in Las Vegas the same day as his UFC 320 fight with Magomed Ankalaev.
The reason? “We want to fight heavyweight,” White was told.
Pereira reclaimed his light heavyweight title on Saturday, knocking out Ankalaev early in the opening round of the pair’s original rematch. After the fight, he hinted at a possible showdown with Jon Jones, but instead of a callout, “Poatan” requested a moment of silence for Jones’ brother Arthur, who passed away on Friday.
As for White, he was taken aback just by seeing Pereira at the PI on Fight Day. “I said ‘how bout we win tonight and focus on tonight, and then we can talk about heavyweight?’ I don’t know,” White told media outlets including Cageside Press following UFC 320 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “There’s still fights here in this division, but we’ll see. This guy has been an absolute stud for us.”
White later called Pereira a “dream” for the promotion to have. “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.”
Is there a reason for White’s hesitation when it comes to Pereira pursuing a third title (or a super-fight) at heavyweight?
“Probably that he was a middleweight. He was a middleweight. He’s going to jump up two weight classes in the UFC? it’s not like jumping up two weight classes in boxing. It’s a big jump,” exclaimed White. “And it’s not like I have any reservations about it. The guy is, he’s in a division that, there’s still some interesting fights. I don’t know. 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, why throwing him in at heavyweight makes any sense. Other than, I just end up saying ‘he wants to do it so bad, I’ll just say yes.'”
As of Saturday, Alex Pereira is now a former UFC middleweight champion, and a two-time light heavyweight champion with the promotion. While Carlos Ulberg has certainly done enough to earn a title shot, it’s also clear that a fight against Jones, and the possibility of a historic third UFC title, are very appealing to the Brazilian.
