Alex Pereira could return to the UFC Octagon before the end of 2024.
‘Poatan’ knocked out Khalil Rountree Jr. to defend his light heavyweight title at UFC 307 on October 5 before announcing his plan to take some time away from fighting.
It was well deserved as the 37-year-old had fought three times in 175 days to break Ronda Rousey’s long-standing record of three title defenses in 189 days.
However, he could now end up headlining UFC 310 on December 7.
Belal Muhammad vs Shavkat Rakhmonov postponed?
Belal Muhammad was supposed to headline the UFC’s final show of the year in his first welterweight title defense after dethroning Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July.
Dana White announced 18-0 contender Rakhmonov will be his opponent at UFC 310, which is also set to feature a flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and promotional newcomer Kai Asakura.
Unfortunately, the UFC is reportedly looking for a new main event after Muhammad withdrew from his fight with Rakhmonov, who will remain on the sidelines until the champion is ready to return.
Italian MMA reporter Al Zullino first broke the news about Muhammad’s UFC 310 withdrawal, and it has since been corroborated by MMAmania.com.
Sources close the the situation have told the MMA site that light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has been approached about a short-notice fight with Magomed Ankalaev.
Ankalaev beat Aleksandr Rakic at UFC 308 to become next in line at 205lbs. The Russian contender issued a ‘stopping running’ plea to the champion during his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier.
Pereira has remained silent following the call-out, but his head coach, Glover Teixeira, has since provided an update that suggests his star pupil would prefer to face someone else next.
Alex Pereira wants heavyweight move
Throughout 2024, Pereira has been flirting with a move to heavyweight, and he’s even teased a drop back down in weight for a shot at 185lb champion Dricus du Plessis.
However, just before his KO win over Rountree Jr. at UFC 307, he shut down the talk about fights in other divisions as he insisted his immediate future is at light heavyweight.
Now Teixeira has claimed that Pereira really wants to move to heavyweight.
“They are talking about Ankalaev right now,” he said on the Overdogs podcast.
“It’s probably the fight at light heavyweight, but Alex wants to move up. I’m 100 percent behind him. I think he can fight any of those heavyweights.
“I’ve been saying for a couple of fights I want him to take six months off. Come back in six months and maybe in March or April next year he fights. That will be a perfect time in my opinion for [him to] recover little things here and there.
“The biggest fight right now is Jon Jones vs [Alex Pereira]. It’s the one that will sell the most. There’s no bigger fight right now than those two meeting up and seeing who is the best.”
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