Alex Pereira already has a light heavyweight title defense lined up for next month, but that isn’t stopping ‘Poatan’ from chomping at the bit to challenge middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis.
In August, ‘DDP’ scored his first successful defense of the 185-pound crown, submitting Israel Adesanya in the fourth round of their UFC 305 headliner in Perth. Chances are, a rematch with the man he took the title from earlier this year, Sean Strickland, is next on his itinerary, but could we see ‘Poatan’ sneak in and snatch the opportunity away from ‘Tarzan’ in 2025?
Immediately after Du Plessis defeated Adesanya, Pereira teased a potential return to middleweight for a showdown with the South African star.
However, Du Plessis was quick to quiet talk of a clash with ‘Poatan’ at 185. Instead, ‘Stillknocks’ likes the idea of moving up to light heavyweight and challenging Pereira for his light heavyweight strap.
“You don’t have to cut the weight so you have some sort of excuse,” Du Plessis said during the UFC 305 post-fight presser. “I’ll come up after the Strickland fight. I’ll come up to 205 and we’ll sort it out there.”
Alex Pereira doubles down on one final move to 185
Responding to Du Plessis’ comment, Pereira doubled down on his desire to venture back down to 185 one final time in hopes of kickstarting yet another title reign.
“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 re better than me, with your public statement it is easy to make this happen, Chama.”
Pereira, of course, claimed the middleweight title in late 2022 with a fifth-round knockout of Adesanya at UFC 281. ‘Poatan’ gave the title back to Adesanya five months later before moving up to 205 where he won that division’s top prize last November.
At the moment, Pereira is preparing to defend his 205-pound title for the third time in 2024 when he meets No. 8 ranked contender Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on October 5.
Pereira has already scored a pair of highlight-reel KOs against Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka this year.
