‘Poatan’ plans on dispatching Jamahal Hill quickly in Las Vegas for UFC 300 and then competing again in Rio de Janeiro for UFC 301.
Alex Pereira is set to defend his light heavyweight title against Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 on April 13th. That’s some pretty big news for the champ, but he has larger ambitions for the year. If all goes according to plan, “Poatan” would like to turn around immediately after a win and headline UFC 301 in Brazil on May 4th as well.
In a new livestream on his YouTube channel, Pereira explained how the UFC 300 fight came together.
“As you guys saw, the UFC announced my fight for UFC 300,” he said through a translator. “We were in talks with the UFC to make this fight happen in Brazil, but then they came up with the idea to bring it a little earlier and make it for the UFC 300. Which for me is pretty good because I’m already been training hard.”
“Doing the fight a bit before expected is even better for me, I’ve been in good shape, I’m training hard, and I’m excited for the fight.”
“I always said that I wants to defend the belt in a very fast pace, in a row, two times,” Pereira said. “Now this would be the opportunity, with these cards being so close to each other, for me to be able to defend at UFC 300 and maybe in Rio [at UFC 301]. That is a very big possibility, because if I don’t get hurt, I did this before in kickboxing. So if everything goes fine I’ll try to defend the belt again very fast.”
That’s a pretty big ‘if,’ but Pereira ain’t lying: he had several years earlier in his kickboxing career where he fought six or seven times in one year. There’s a pretty big difference, though, between doing that for a regional kickboxing promotion and the UFC. “Poatan” would be fighting former champion Hill, and then facing the next No. 1 contender a month later.
It’s crazy, but Pereira sounds driven to make it happen. He also added some more talk about a move up to heavyweight in his near future. Could Alex become the first three weightclass champion in UFC history?
“For me, competing at heavyweight or fighting at UFC 301 right after UFC 300 is two things that are hard, but something I’m capable of doing,” he said. “I’m a big guy, I think I can reach the heavyweight division limit. It’s possible, yes. Let’s see for the future.”
Let’s see, indeed. My God this “Poatan!”