Alex Pereira has shown interest in returning to the middleweight division to challenge Dricus du Plessis. This comes after du Plessis successfully defended his middleweight title against Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. Here is what happened:
Alex Pereira is currently the light heavyweight champion. He has an upcoming fight this October against Khalil Rountree Jr. However, the middleweight title fight at UFC 305 has reignited the Brazilianโs interest in the 185 lbs weight class. He recently sent out a post on Instagram declaring his intentions to take a go at the middleweight title belt one more time.
I’m focused on my next fight and I’m going prepared but you never know what can happen , so regardless of the result I want to go down one more time to the middleweight and go for the belt.
Alex Pereria on Instagram
โPoatanโ called out to Dricus Du Plessis on his post, asking him to bring his โwillโ to fight him so the South African champion can prove that he is better than the former champion. The Brazilian became the middleweight champion in 2022 when he beat Israel Adesanya but eventually lost the title in their rematch at UFC 287.
โPoatanโ wrote to Du Plessis asking for a public statement to make the fight easy to happen. However, some like Robert Whittaker have advised against this move due to the challenges of cutting weight after moving up a division, and the potential risks involved in facing a powerful striker like du Plessis.
Magomed Ankalaev reacts to Alex Pereiraโs plan to return to the middleweight division
While all this is happening, top light-heavyweight contender Magomed Ankalaev has been left hanging. He was projected to fight โPoatanโ for the next title fight. However, the Brazilian matched up with #8 contender Khalil Rountree Jr. instead which definitely infuriated #2 ranked Russian.
For now, Ankalaev is set to fight Rakiฤ, and a victory could potentially set up a title fight with Pereira. Or at least that is what everybody thought. Pereiraโs latest plans regarding the middleweight division escalated the tension between the two fighters. Ankalaev recently took to social media to express frustration over being overlooked for a title shot and criticized Pereira.
You are so weak @AlexPereiraUFC you only pick on the guys who are in lower division than you and you think you can beat them people are not stupid there is a reason why you are fighting Khalil and not me https://t.co/8rhBH18kre
โ Magomed Ankalaev (@AnkalaevM) September 3, 2024
Pereira recently claimed that Ankalaev had the opportunity to fight him but refused. He implied that it was Ankalaev who was avoiding the match. However, Ankalaev strongly denied these claims, stating that he was never officially offered a fight against Pereira by the UFC and accused Pereira of lying.
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