Alex Pereira likely to leave UFC middleweight division, claims Dana White

Alex Pereira suffered his first loss in the UFC last night. The now ex-middleweight champion succumbed to a second round TKO at the hands of his nemesis Israel Adesanya (a man he’s beaten on three other occasions).

In both last night’s fight and the previous Pereira vs. Adesanya match-up in November, Pereira reportedly struggled mightily with his weigh cut. After UFC 287 his boss Dana White suggested that the UFC’s middleweight ranks might not feature the Brazilian in the future.

What Dana White said about Alex Pereira at UFC 287

“Honestly, I think [Alex] Pereira moves to 205 after this fight,” said Dana White in his official press conference. “He’s a monster. I know that he still had like two pounds to cut, and it was an hour left of the weigh-ins. So yeah, I’m not saying he’s moving to 205, but I’m assuming he is; you can ask him. It wouldn’t surprise me.”

“I would bet anything he moves to 205 after this fight,” added White.

What weight did Alex Pereira used to compete at?

The 6′ 4″ Alex Pereira has only fought at middleweight (185 lbs) in MMA. In Glory kickboxing Pereira is a former middleweight and light heavyweight champion. In Glory the middleweight limit is 187.4 lbs. Glory’s light heavyweight weight limit is 209.4 lbs. Pereira’s last two fights with Glory were at light heavyweight.

Tim Bissell

Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. Among Tim's specialties are the intersections between crime and combat sports. Tim has also covered head trauma, concussions and CTE in great detail.

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