It would appear the UFC’s reigning 205-pound champion and 185-pound champion are interested in fighting one another in the relatively near future. However, they can’t seem to agree on a weight class.
Alex Pereira, the current light heavyweight champion, posted on social media Tuesday that he is planning a cut back down to the middleweight division following his upcoming UFC 307 title defence against Khalil Rountree Jr., win or lose.
“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,” Pereira posted along with a photo of him watching Du Plessis get his hand raised in August at UFC 305. “Hey Dricus, bring your will to fight me so you can prove that you are better than me, with your public statement it is easy to make this happen, Chama.”
Pereira posted the same photo minutes after Du Plessis defended his title against Israel Adesanya a few weeks ago. Du Plessis and his coach both responded that night by saying the 30-year-old South African would be willing to move up to 205 pounds instead.
Judging by his post Tuesday, it would appear Pereira is insistent on moving back down to 185 pounds.
UFC president Dana White was asked about Pereira teasing another weight change following Week 4 of the Contender Series.
“He wants to move up, he wants to move down. That’s why people love him,” White said. “Those are the type of fighters people love. Pereira wants to fight everybody. I love it.”
White did not say this was something the UFC is currently considering but did ponder the idea and is open to the concept. The UFC headlined two pay-per-view cards in 2023 with champion vs. champion matchups when lightweight champ Islam Makhachev fought and defeated former featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 and UFC 294.
“The thing that’s great about it is…it also gives us a ton of options as we’re matchmaking,” White added. “Should we do this? Should we do that? Shouldn’t we do this? Shouldn’t we do that? It’s a good problem to have.”
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.
He lost the middleweight title via vicious knockout to Adesanya in their UFC 287 rematch in April 2023. Pereira moved up in weight following that loss and has amassed a 4-0 record at 205 pounds with all his wins coming against former titleholders.
Pereira is set to headline UFC 307 in Salt Lake City on Oct. 5. He knocked out Jamahal Hill at UFC 300 in April and Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303 in June.
Morne Visser, Du Plessis’s coach, proposed that, following UFC 305, the organization should instead have Du Plessis move up in weight to eliminate any possibility of Pereira using the draining weight as an excuse for losing.
Du Plessis, 8-0 in the UFC, does not have his next title defence lined up yet, however White has previously said No. 1-ranked contender and former champ Sean Strickland is next in line. Du Plessis won the title from Strickland in January with a split decision at UFC 297.
If both champions add another title defence to their respective records, who knows what might happen next?