White didn’t sound too excited about throwing Pereira back into action at UFC 301, especially at heavyweight.
There was a lot of talk about Alex Pereira potentially turning around after UFC 300 to fight at UFC 301 in Brazil. It wasn’t very serious talk from anyone but Pereira, but it was fun to imagine “Poatan” cutting through Jamahal Hill so fast he could compete again in four weeks.
Well, imagine no more because that’s exactly what Alex did. The light heavyweight champion knocked Hill out just over three minutes into their main event fight (watch the highlights here). With the belt over his shoulder and not a mark on him, he once again asked the UFC to book him a fight in his home country on May 4th. Seriously.
“I’m injury free. I want to fight in Brazil,” Pereira said. “I know it’s a short time, but let’s see what happens … I know there needs to be promotion for a title fight, so I don’t care, let me do a fight at heavyweight.”
Alex Pereira reacts after ko’ing Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 pic.twitter.com/EHoeOpTe7g
— Best MMA Moments (@XcellentMMA) April 14, 2024
“I think UFC Rio is possible, but it doesn’t depend on me,” he told Ag.Fight following UFC 300. “I said Rio de Janeiro, I’m there, available. I want to fight in front of these people and the Brazilians want to see me fight, put on a show. I didn’t see the other fights, but everyone is saying the event was a success. I closed it with a flourish and I think everyone liked it, so, for sure, people want to see me fight again and quickly. I would like to do that.”
Unfortunately, it seems like the idea — especially the heavyweight option — doesn’t appeal to UFC CEO Dana White.
“When you think about him moving up to heavyweight, you got Jones, you got Aspinall,” White said at the UFC 300 post-fight presser. “The list goes on and on in that heavyweight division. The heavyweight division is nasty. I don’t know if that’s the right move for him. He looked damn good tonight in the division he’s in. So I think he might want to stick around there for a minute.”
“These are all things that we’ll talk about for the next fifteen Tuesdays,” he added. “We’ll get it figured out.”
Not the kind of comment that implies the UFC is working to rush “Poatan” back for UFC 301, regardless of the weightclass. And with nothing lined up because no one took Alex seriously back in February, we’re not even sure there’s anyone for him to fight.
Sorry, Rio de Janeiro. Alex Pereira tried. The world just isn’t hardcore enough to keep up with a badass like him.