Alex Pereira appears to be game for a potential heavyweight clash with current UFC champion Jon Jones.
On Friday, Pereira was in attendance for UFC 301’s Q&A in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was asked about recent comments Jones made regarding a fight at heavyweight. Pereira, who just defended his UFC light heavyweight title for the first time against Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, was intrigued to say the least.
In typical Pereira form, “Poatan” didn’t have anything bad to say about Jones and remained rather cordial when discussing their potential matchup. Pereira has already mentioned a possible move up from 205 pounds in order to capture a third UFC belt so getting the two together inside of the Octagon might not be as hard as it seems.
“He said he wants this fight, and my job is to fight. This is for the promotion to decide, so let’s see what happens now,” said Pereira in Portuguese (h/t MMA Fighting).
“After my last fight I said I wanted to fight at heavyweight, but had no answer [from the UFC], so I kind of forgot it and my plans have changed. But there was this message from Jon Jones last night, so I don’t know if this might change [plans moving forward]. Becoming a three-division champion is very hard and not many people try it, but if I have that opportunity, I just want to bring joy to everyone and a better life for my family.”
This is great to hear from Pereira, but a variety of obstacles need to be cleared in order for a potential matchup against Jones to take place. Not only is Jones just returning from a torn pectoral muscle, but the UFC legend is expected to fight Stipe Miocic in his Octagon return. If victorious in that fight, Jones was expected to then meet current interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall in a title unification bout.
As for Pereira, he’s already targeting a rematch with former UFC light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka. After that, “Poatan” could find himself matched up against a well-deserving Magomed Ankalaev. It’s anyone’s guess right now, but any fight involving Pereira seems like the most attractive to fight fans at this time. His knockout ability is simply too good to pass up.
Thoughts?