Is a heavyweight run in Alex Pereira’s future?
After capturing both the middleweight and light heavyweight world titles in the span of a year, UFC fans have been clamoring for ‘Poatan’ to move up once again and attempt to do what no man ever has inside the Octagon—become a three-division champion.
Recently, coach Ethan Marion shared a video of Pereira going toe-to-toe with No. 9 ranked heavyweight Tai Tuivasa. As you can see via the clip below, ‘Poatan’ more than held his own against the big boy from Sydney.
Alex Pereira spars with Tai Tuivasa
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 7, 2024
Dana White doesn’t like the idea of alex pereira moving to heavyweight
Following his big first-round knockout of Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, Pereira lobbied for a quick turnaround to fight reigning interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall. Unfortunately, Dana White didn’t think that was such a good idea for the Brazilian kickboxer.
“When you think about him moving up to heavyweight, you’ve got [Jon] Jones. You’ve got [Tom] Aspinall. The list goes on and in that heavyweight division,” White said at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference about Pereira. “The heavyweight division is nasty. I don’t know if that’s the right move for him. He looked damn good in the division he’s in.
“I think you might want to stick around there for a minute. But I don’t know. These are all things we’ll talk about for the next 15 Tuesdays, so we’ll get it forged out” (h/t BJPenn.com).
In a previous interview with MMA Fighting, Pereira’s friend and coach Glover Teixeira offered some insight into how Pereira would alter his training regimen to pack on a few extra pounds for a move to heavyweight.
“If he were to move up, he would change his diet and training routine outside the camp to gain mass,” Teixeira said. “‘Poatan’ walks around 233 pounds and I think he can go to 246, but not [over that], you know? I think 242 would be good.”
