Alex Pereira righted the wrongs of his loss to Magomed Ankalaev by popping out and laying waste to the Russian in below two minutes to reclaim his mild heavyweight title within the UFC 320 important occasion.
Afterwards, Pereira admitted he had a whole post-fight speech deliberate however he in the end opted to make use of his interview to ask for a second of silence to honor Jon Jones’ brother Arthur Jones, who tragically died at simply 39 years outdated on Friday. However Pereira even mentioning Jones instantly acquired everyone’s consideration as a result of “Poatan” has typically talked about finally shifting to heavyweight and a showdown in opposition to the fighter most generally thought of the best of all-time will surely sound interesting.
Whereas Pereira’s aspirations may finally lure him to heavyweight, UFC CEO Dana White admits he’s not precisely in love with the thought.
“So immediately I used to be at work and I had a bunch of conferences over there this afternoon and I went over to the [UFC Performance Institute] and [Alex Pereira] was over within the P.I.” White revealed through the UFC 320 post-fight press convention. “I’m like properly you’re the final man I anticipated to see right here immediately. What are you doing right here? They’re telling me ‘we wish to combat at heavyweight.’ I mentioned how about we win tonight and concentrate on tonight after which we will discuss heavyweight.
“I don’t know. There’s nonetheless fights right here on this division however we’ll see. This man has been an absolute stud for us. He’s on trip in Australia, flies over and fights as a result of anyone fell out. He fights when he’s damage. He doesn’t care. He needs to combat everyone. He needs to maneuver as much as heavyweight. He’s a dream to have on this group.”
Previous to his lopsided win over Ankalaev on Saturday, Pereira mentioned that he in all probability solely had a finite variety of cuts all the way down to 205 kilos in him anyhow, which is another excuse why he was contemplating a transfer to heavyweight.
Clearly that appears like Pereira isn’t anxious about how he matches up measurement sensible to the largest fighters within the division however that also won’t persuade White.
“In all probability that he was a middleweight and he’s going to leap up two weight lessons within the UFC,” White mentioned about his issues to let Pereira go to heavyweight. “It’s not like leaping up two weight lessons in boxing. It’s a giant soar.
“It’s not that I’ve reservations about it. He’s in a division the place there’s nonetheless some attention-grabbing fights. I just like the man a lot. We’ll see. We’ll have to speak about it. I simply don’t see why, except he needs to retire, why throwing him at heavyweight makes any sense apart from I simply find yourself saying he needs to do it so dangerous, I’ll simply say sure.”
It’s unlikely that Ankalaev would get a 3rd combat with Pereira immediately given how the rematch ended, however Carlos Ulberg remains to be on the market using a formidable win streak and he may probably insert himself because the No. 1 contender within the division. Jiri Prochazka additionally scored a knockout win at UFC 320, though he already has two previous losses to Pereira on his report.
In the meantime, Pereira probably difficult Jones and even the winner of the UFC 321 important occasion between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane definitely sounds attention-grabbing.
White clearly stopped doubting Pereira a very long time in the past so something appears potential, particularly after he delivered on his promise to dismantle and dispatch Ankalaev on Saturday.
“It’s one factor to say that and you then are available and ship such as you did tonight,” White mentioned. “He did all the things he mentioned he was going to do.
“Individuals love him. Individuals love the way in which he fights. Can’t be bummed out with the way in which he carried out tonight.”
