It didn’t take long for Alex Pereira to insert himself into the collective conversation following Dricus Du Plessis’s fourth-round submission win over Israel Adesanya Saturday in the main event of UFC 305.
The current 205- and former 185-pound champion took to social media minutes after Du Plessis successfully defended the title for the first time with photo showing him watching Du Plessis get his hand raised accompanied by a caption that said: “Coming back down to 185 one more time.”
Du Plessis’s coach Morne Visser, when asked about Pereira’s comment, proposed that rather than Pereira cutting back down to the middleweight division, the organization could instead have Du Plessis move up in weight in a potential champion vs. champion showdown.
“No, I won’t give him the joy to go down to 185. We’ll just go up,” Visser told Australia’s Submission Radio Sunday morning in Perth. “I don’t want to beat him and then he (can use cutting weight as an excuse for losing). No, we’ll go up and I’m sure that the UFC will be OK with that.
“I know Dricus is game, so we’ll go up. I’m not going to wait for him to come down. We’ll go up. … I really hope the UFC gives us this blessing for December.”
Pereira is 4-0 since moving up to the 205-pound division last year, including two knockout title defences at UFC 300 over Jamahal Hill and UFC 303 over Jiri Prochazka already this year. He is scheduled for his third title defence at UFC 307 against Khalil Rountree on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The 37-year-old Brazilian debuted in the UFC in 2021 as a middleweight where he went 4-1. Pereira defeated Andreas Michailidis, Bruno Silva and Sean Strickland before he won the title from Adesanya at UFC 281.
Adesanya won the title back from Pereira with huge knockout at UFC 287. Pereira then moved up to the light heavyweight division following that event. Adesanya would lose the middleweight title to Strickland at UFC 293 in his next outing; Strickland was unable to defend the belt at UFC 297, losing a split decision to Du Plessis in Toronto in January.
Du Plessis became the first middleweight champion to defend the belt since Adesanya earned his fifth career defence when he beat Jared Cannonier two years ago.
The South African is 8-0 in the UFC with his three most recent victories all coming against past champions. Strickland is the No. 1-ranked middleweight contender and Dana White said prior to UFC 305 that the American is next in line.
“Let me handle my business, you handle you business. You don’t have to cut the weight so you have some sort of excuse. I will come up after the Strickland fight,” Du Plessis said at the UFC 305 post-fight press conference. “I’ll come up to 205 and we’ll sort it out there.”
Pereira’s pairing with Roundtree came as somewhat of a surprise since many feel Magomed Ankalaev should be the rightful next title challenger at light heavyweight.
Ankalaev referred to Pereira as the “biggest chicken in the UFC” for his perceived refusal to fight the streaking Russian contender, while also accepting a fight with Roundtree and then challenging Du Plessis.