Alex Pereira has revoked his offer to train with Jon Jones as fans continue to push for a super-fight between the pair.
The dominant Brazilian met with Jones at UFC 306 and offered for the pair to train together despite being called out multiple times by his two-weight world champion rival. However, in an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow in his role as Stake ambassador, he appeared to change his tune.
Pereira is currently preparing to defend his light-heavyweight title at UFC 313 next week in Las Vegas against likely his last challenger at the weight in Magomed Ankalaev. Meanwhile, Jones is expected to finally unify the heavyweight division with interim champion Tom Aspinall later this year.
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Alex Pereira rescinds offer to train with Jon Jones
Jon Jones has made it clear that his interest after defeating Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 is more with facing Alex Pereira, and not Aspinall. After establishing arguably the greatest career in MMA history, he is keen on legacy fights with big names, which places the Brazilian ahead on the hit list of his British counterpart.
However, when they came head-to-head in Las Vegas, it seemed as though a fight wasn’t likely at all, with Pereira saying they were more likely to train together. However, speaking exclusively with Bloody Elbow tonight as a Stake ambassador he seemed to have changed his mind.
“To be honest I don’t think that makes as much sense any more,” Pereira said of his offer. “Back when I said that I would like to fight at heavyweight people already put the dots together and basically mentioned Jon Jones.
“So that’s something that is speculated, even if it’s just by the fans. So I wouldn’t want to go and train with him now and then if we end up fighting people will end up saying a bunch of stuff about whatever in the fight.
“So I think it wouldn’t make sense now, but if we were to fight one day and then go train I think it would make total sense.”
Alex Pereira will watch Jon Jones vs Tom Aspinall as a fan – and not future opponents
However, Pereira didn’t seem to be drawn on whether or not he would commit to fighting the winner of the highly-touted super-fight at heavyweight. He will, of course, be watching, but insists that it will only be as a fan.
He believes that Jones will win, and said of the spectacle: “I won’t necessarily be studying the fight but I will watch it closely.
“Obviously any heavyweight fight is already exciting and then you throw in Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall. So I think that it is a very exciting fight and I think that I will be watching closely – but only as a fan.”