Dricus Du Plessis’ interest in fighting Alex Pereira has unsurprisingly prompted a response from the reigning light heavyweight champion.
Hours ahead of his highly anticipated title tilt with middleweight king Sean Strickland at UFC 297, Du Plessis opened the door for a potential move to 205 should he leave Toronto with gold wrapped around his waist on Saturday night.
“One hundred percent,” Du Plessis replied when asked about moving up to challenge Pereira at the UFC 297 pre-fight press conference. “After this, I have a whole division to take care of before I start thinking about him. But I’m taking care of that division and whether it’s him or someone else, after this division, that’s the one I’m after” (h/t Yahoo! Sports).
Dricus du Plessis addresses the possibility of fighting Alex Pereira, who's sitting in the front row
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Pereira, who was front and center during Friday’s press event, offered up his response to Du Plessis’ comments during an interview with Full Send MMA.
“He spoke, so you have to listen,” Pereira said. “But I think that’s far from happening, so it’s just talk for now.”
Alex Pereira Will Be Rooting for Sean Strickland in The Great White North
Two months removed from his highlight-reel-worthy knockout of Jiri Prochazka to claim the light heavyweight title, Alex Pereira will be in attendance at UFC 297 to cheer on his friend and former opponent, Sean Strickland.
“The relationship I have with him, it’s good,” Pereira said of Strickland. “He’s not a great friend because I don’t speak English. If I spoke English, maybe we’d speak more. We trained together after our fight. He’s a fun, cool guy, and I’m here supporting him for this fight.”
In July 2022, Strickland stepped inside the Octagon with Pereira determined to stop the Brazilian’s hype in its tracks. Instead, ‘Poatan’ uncorked a vicious left hook nearly the halfway point of the opening round that put Strickland down for the count. Pereira claimed the middleweight crown in his next fight.