Alex Pereira has created a stir by announcing that his desire to return to the middleweight division.
Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree in the main event at UFC 307 on Oct. 5 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Brazilian had previously expressed interest in moving back down to middleweight after Dricus Du Plessis’ successful title defense against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305 last month. Pereira recently revealed that he is now decided on moving to 185 pounds after his clash against Rountree, regardless of the result.
“I’m focused on my next fight and I’m going prepared but you never know what can happen, so regardless of the result I want to go down one more time to the middleweight and go for the belt, “Pereira wrote on Instagram. “Hey Dricus, bring your will to fight me so you can prove that you are better than me, with your public statement it is easy to make this happen. Chama.”
Widely considered the rightful title challenger at light heavyweight is Magomed Ankalaev, who now fights Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308 on Oct. 26 in Abu Dhabi. Ankalaev and Pereira have been recently trading shots over the champ’s allegations of the Russian turning down a title shot. Pereira’s decision to move to middleweight did not fail to draw a reaction from Ankalaev.
“You are so weak [Alex Pereira],’ Ankalaev wrote on X. “You only pick on the guys who are in lower division than you and you think you can beat them. People are not stupid. There is a reason why you are fighting Khalil and not me.”
You are so weak @AlexPereiraUFC you only pick on the guys who are in lower division than you and you think you can beat them people are not stupid there is a reason why you are fighting Khalil and not me https://t.co/8rhBH18kre
— Magomed Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) September 3, 2024
Meanwhile, Du Plessis coach Morne Visser had initially expressed interest in the Pereira matchup, but only at middleweight. However, the middleweight champ is now seemingly ready to defend his strap against Pereira. Du Plessis verbally expressed interest in the idea but not without an element of humor. Pereira’s former foe turned friend Sean Strickland adamantly awaits a title shot at 185 pounds after bouncing back from a narrow split-decision title loss against Du Plessis with a win over Paulo Costa. “Stillknocks” suggested Pereira to domestically sort out title contention issues with his “boyfriend” Strickland.
“ you and [your] boyfriend [Sean Strickland] can have a domestic dispute on who gets slept first,” Du Plessis wrote.
@AlexPereiraUFC you and you boyfriend @SStricklandMMA can have a domestic dispute on who gets slept first
— Dricus Du Plessis (@dricusduplessis) September 3, 2024
Meanwhile, UFC CEO Dana White seemingly likes the idea of Pereira moving up and down wherever he wants to. White appreciates the range of options Pereira’s potential move opens up for matchmaking.
“He’s f—-ing nasty, that’s my take on him,” White said at a press conference following the Contender Series on Tuesday. “He wants to move up, he wants to move down… That’s why people love him, those are the type of fighters that people love. Pereira wants to fight everybody, I love it… It also gives us a ton of options that as we’re in matchmaking, ‘should we do this, should we do that’… It’s a good problem to have with a guy like him.”
