Alex Pereira remains in the heavyweight division, although he did not go through the panel of his division.
In June, the former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion was one of the winners to become the promotion’s first three-weight title holder. But Cyril Gane had other plans when they met at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House. Gane ruined Pereira’s second-round TKO and put “Poatan” back in the contender’s queue, as he set the anniversary for a December 12 fight with Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 334.
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Initially, Pereira sought a rematch with now-heavyweight champion Gane and said he was informed by the UFC that it was a possibility, before Pavlovich landed an opponent at the end of the year. On Wednesday’s edition of “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Pereira explained his initial frustrations about his second weight loss.
“What hurt me more then, that they told me that I was going to fight Gane for the belt, or that he was going to fight? [Josh] Hokit, and after that no one did it. They do whatever they want from the location,” Pereira said through an interpreter.
“Maybe they didn’t want to run the fight again. Maybe they wanted more diversity in the fights. It’s kind of hard to understand.”
Instead of Pereira, fellow competitor Josh Hokit shot the next title. Gane faced off in the main event of UFC 334 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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The Hokit fight is exactly what Pereira wanted if the title shot wasn’t an option. It ended with no one, but the bad blood that had built between Hokit and Pereira this year was not why “Poatan” wanted to fight. He said the matchup was easier than Pavlovich’s.
“Coming off the loss, the Hokit fight would be much, much easier for me than the Pavlovich fight, which was supposed to be a tougher fight. Hokit would be a much easier fight for me,” Pereira said.
“Pavlovich’s opponent is a little more dangerous. But watching her on the technical road today, I see [Pavlovich is] even a very good fight for me.”
Losing his first title shot in his heavyweight debut seemingly left Pereira in an odd position. He always had options for talent that transcended weight classes, but what was it? one, and it was done in the land of the giants?
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Pereira admitted that he will return to 205 pounds, where he left his most recent belt, but eventually decided to go for another heavyweight title.
“I thought about it, but he’s a very competitive guy. The original plan was to stay at heavyweight and fight all these guys,” Pereira said.
“When I was training for the Gane fight, and Tallison Teixeira was in camp with us, he fought Pavlovich and lost. So come back, guys, they go, ‘Pavlovich is tough, he’s a machine.’ Then I was thinking, ‘Bro, I’m going to beat Cyril Gane, and there on the microphone,’ I call Pavlovich because I think it’s a good fight. It’s always like a challenge. Things end naturally.
“If I don’t work, the guy doesn’t try to go too far with these heavyweights, if I had a different option. The UFC offered Pavlovich, but he already had a fight in mind. … It’s not surprising when they offered. OK, let’s go. I wanted to do the fight anyway.”
Alex Pereira is back in action at UFC 334.
(Ed Mulholland via Getty Images)
Pereira, 39, knows that he has come to the end of a fighting sports career after a lifetime of fighting. Capturing the heavyweight gold is still his main goal, but that doesn’t mean he’ll keep his popularity if he doesn’t drop it, as many legends have done before him.
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“If I start to lose, if things don’t start too well, I don’t want to step on a stone so that no one can come up,” said Pereira. “I’m just going to enjoy my time and enjoy my money.
“I made the best life plan for me, my kids, my future, my future kids, for the foundation I built. We’re all set to prove nothing more.”
Despite his insistence on continuing to fight at this stage of his life, Pereira faced a lot of criticism after his last knockout loss.
Although he was previously cast as a heavyweight, he raised concerns among some about whether Pereira’s chin would be consistent in the weight class. That is true for those who doubt; not Pereira He doesn’t give that opinion much credence, and thinks he’s still a durable contender in the sport’s heavyweight division.
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“First of all, I can say that the fools who say they can’t take a knife are a bunch of fools,” Pereira said.
“At the end of the day, I took those punches in the beginning [Gane] to fight They were all still intact and still fighting. Anyone who hits it like sometimes people go down, they go out cold. For neither I could still fight. So, guys who talk like that, I just call them idiots.”
Meanwhile, Pereira is in full fight mode and will watch the UFC 334 title fight next.
Upcoming challenger Hokit quickly shot his way to a title shot, much like Pereira did when he joined the promotion in 2021. With three fights in less than a year, Pereira earned his first UFC title shot and won middleweight gold against longtime rival Israel Adesanya. Hokit essentially did the same thing, racking up four UFC wins over the next year.
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Ultimately, Pereira still thinks Hokit is too inexperienced at the moment against one of the division’s long-term reserves, Gane.
“I don’t think so” [Hokit is ready]. He’s in a good streak, but against opponents who aren’t in the UFC right now. The results show “Pereira” said.
“If you see the last wars; [Hokit] already getting very tired. Those guys aren’t even good in the UFC at the moment, and he’s already tired. So imagine fighting for five years. Unless he’s really changed since his last fight, it’s going to be difficult. This was not just said to me; go and see the battles, and you will see.