One of MMA’s most renowned strikers has warned Alex Pereira against moving back down to middleweight.
The light-heavyweight champion made an impressive third defence of his world title at UFC 307 when he stopped Khalil Rountree Jr in his fourth fight in 11 months. Now, he has options across three weight divisions; heavyweight, light-heavyweight and middleweight.
Pereira has already held gold at 185lb, but appears fascinated by the challenge of current champion Dricus Du Plessis, who has never lost in the UFC. However, Sean O’Malley believes he should be looking up in weight, not back down after bulking up for 205lb.
- Who is Alex Pereira? Get to know the MMA brawler as he lands yet another massive KO at UFC 307
Sean O’Malley warns Alex Pereira against moving back to middleweight
Following his win on Saturday night, Alex Pereira kept his options open for a next fight. He is keen to now take a lengthy break after a period of intense activity that has seen him compete in four pay-per-view headliner five-round bouts for the world title.
But when he returns he will have challenges across three divisions, and it appears that he is leaning more towards going back down to 185lb and pursuing a rare second title reign. He has already held the belt there, but lost his first defence to Israel Adesanya after taking the belt from him a few months prior.
However, former bantamweight champion O’Malley isn’t so sure about the idea, saying on his YouTube channel: “I don’t really care to see him go back down to 185lb. I do think he’s a lot more compromised at 185lb to get knocked out just cutting that much weight.
“I think he could 100 per cent go up to heavyweight, he’s a big guy and with that skillset he has, if he fights a good, good, good wrestler it’s a little different. But if he just fights an MMA guy, he has a very high chance of knocking motherf***ers out at heavyweight for sure.
“DDP is a serious problem, I feel like if he can get a hold of him and drag him down it could be a dirty fight… It’s an interesting fight and it’s not just a guarantee that he knocks him out because DDP is a dog.”
Alex Pereira ballooned to 230lb after UFC 307 weigh-in
While Pereira has made the 185lb limit multiple times in the UFC, he has looked much more comfortable coming up to 205lb for his last five fights. He was always one of the last to weigh in during his run to the belt at middleweight, but now makes the light-heavyweight clip with minimal effort.
However, it is still a cut to get down even to his new limit. This was evidenced in a video he shared to social media on Saturday afternoon ahead of his last fight where he tipped the scales to show off his fight night weight.
After coming in at 205lb for weigh-ins on Friday morning, by Saturday afternoon, he could be seen tipping the scales at 104.3kg, which amounts to just under 230lb. This means a weight gain of a massive 25lb in around 24 hours.
This would indicate that he’d need to cut at least 45lb from his healthy competitive weight, and likely even more, in order to hit the middleweight limit.
- Who is Conor McGregor? Step inside the hedonistic life of UFC’s ‘notorious’ bad boy and legendary double champ