Pereira seems like he wants to avenge Israel Adesanya’s loss to Dricus Du Plessis in Perth, Australia. But he’s got a light heavyweight title defense to make first.
Alex Pereira says he plans to return to the 185 pound division for one more fight.
“Poatan” won the UFC middleweight title off Israel Adesanya in November 2022, but was unable to hold it. “The Last Stylebender” would win a rematch in April 2023, prompting Pereira to move up to light heavyweight where he’s become a powerful 205 pound champion.
With all his success at light heavyweight, people have been looking at “Poatan” to potentially move up to heavyweight, not back down to middleweight. But in a new post following Adesanya’s loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 305 (watch the wild finish here), Pereira declared he was interested in fighting “Stillknocks” for his belt.
“Coming down to 185 one more time,” Pereira wrote on Instagram, sitting in front of a TV showing a victorious Dricus holding his hands up in celebration.
He’ll first have to get past Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on October 5th. The UFC recently announced Pereira vs. Rountree for the promotion’s return to Salt Lake City, and while it’s a bit of a gimme title shot, “War Horse” is probably more dangerous than the bookies are giving him credit for.
After that, Pereira vs. Du Plessis in South Africa? “Poatan” has become the man the UFC calls when they need a big fight, and that would certainly be a big fight.