Nothing is standing in the way of Alex Pereira crossing over to boxing for a fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
On Wednesday, UFC boss Dana White announced he is launching a boxing league with Turki Alalshikh.
The news came just weeks after boxing’s best heavyweight called out ‘Poatan’ for a retirement ‘show fight’.
Naturally, it’s a scrap Alex Pereira is interested in, which he now believes has a real possibility of happening.
Alex Pereira provides Oleksandr Usyk fight details
Pereira has the not-so-small task of defending his light heavyweight belt against Mamgomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 on Saturday night.
Still, he’s happy to look ahead at what might be next if he gets by the streaking Russian contender.
In an ideal world, the Brazilian fan favorite will be crossing over to boxing to fight Oleksandr Usyk later this year.
“I jumped for joy when I saw the announcement,” Pereira said in Portuguese at UFC 313 media day.
He added: “Maybe September. Saudi Arabia. I was the first to show interest, and then Usyk showed interest. And now we have to see the interest of the organizations. I’ll be ready.”
Dana White rules out crossover fights
White wants to keep his boxing and MMA businesses entirely separate, so that means no crossover fights.
During a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, the UFC CEO was asked about Pereira vs Usyk and other crossover boxing matches coming to fruition.
“No, never,” White said.
“I’m sure there are guys that want to box, but I literally don’t want to see any of that.
“We’ll keep the boxers in boxing, and the MMA guys in MMA.”
White has always been against crossover fights. The only time he made an exception was when Conor McGregor made $100 million to face Floyd Mayweather in the aptly named ‘Money Fight’ eight years ago.
Since then, plenty of UFC stars have shown an interest in boxing, but White seems over the whole idea.
Only time will tell if Pereira’s fight with Usyk will be able to convince White to change his stance.