Alex Pereira, the recently dethroned former UFC middleweight champion might have his next fight at Light Heavyweight, says the UFC president Dana White.
Pereira faced longtime rival Israel Adesanya in the main event at UFC 287 last Saturday night, where “The Last Stylebender” regained the 185-pound belt from Pereira, making their MMA head-to-head record 1-1.
I would bet anything Alex Pereira moves to 205: Dana White
In the wake of UFC 287, there have been calls for a trilogy between Adesanya and Pereira, even the former UFC double champ Henry Cejudo opined that a third fight needs to happen between the two, provided that “Poatan” is still 3-1 over Izzy, considering their kickboxing days.
However, Dana White has informed that Pereira could be making a jump up to Light Heavyweight for his next outing in the Octagon, which would be putting the trilogy fight in question.
“Honestly, I think that Pereira probably moves to 205 after this fight,” said White at a recent news conference. “He’s a monster. I know that he still had two pounds to cut leading up to when there was like an hour left in weigh-ins. Yeah. I’m not saying he’s moving to 205, but I’d assume he is. You guys can ask him, himself. But it wouldn’t surprise me. … I would bet anything he moves to 205 after this fight.”
While there has been no comments from Pereira so far following the loss, Adesanya’s words had a similar notion as to White’s, considering Pereira’s potential move up to 205. However, even if that doesn’t happen, Izzy opines that his rival would need to “earn” his way into the trilogy.
“I don’t keep score, I settle them,” said Adesanya. “Now, it’s settled. Look, I gave him the fast track to the belt. I could’ve said, ‘Nah, f*ck no. Who has he fought?’ Like, he fought one top five. But he did well. He fought some alright guys. Then, he beat f*cking Strickland and I was like, ‘OK, fine. There’s no one else.’ But also, I was looking for that challenge, that guy that beat me in kickboxing. That’s why I took that fight.”
“I got that immediate rematch because of what I’ve done in this game. … I did the hard yards. I earned my f*cking rematch. Now, he’s got to do the hard yards if he wants to do that, but I don’t think he’s going to. Go cause problems at 205. Good f*cking luck to everybody else because he’s a motherf*cker to deal with. I’ll tell you that,” he added. [H/T MMA Junkie]
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