Andrew Ravens
Alex Pereira is not going back to light heavyweight. Following his loss to Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House on June 14, Pereira told fellow UFC fighter Renato Moicano that the decision has been made — he is staying at heavyweight and is targeting the title.
Immediately after the fight, Joe Rogan asked Pereira on the broadcast whether he would remain at heavyweight or return to 205 pounds, a division where he held the title twice. Pereira declined to answer at the moment, but has since been forthcoming.
“100 percent heavyweight,” Pereira said. “Honestly, training went really well. A lot of people talk about the weight, but I’ve always been a heavy guy. Some people say ‘Poatan wasn’t prepared, he can’t take a punch, he got dropped by a jab.’ How can people be so stupid and only see the jab? Nobody says, ‘Damn, he took a beating and stayed in the fight.’
“Ciryl Gane was already a heavyweight, already used to that weight. After that jab landed, the guy took so many shots — punches to the back of the head, illegal strikes — and managed to get back up and keep trading with the guy. Nobody sees that. They only talk about the jab. But what about all the punches I took?”
Pereira weighed in at 251 pounds the morning before the White House bout, a gain of 46.5 pounds compared to eight months prior when he scored a first-round knockout over Magomed Ankalaev to reclaim the light heavyweight belt. He was three pounds heavier than Gane and said he did not feel drained after the opening round.
“I wasn’t tired,” Pereira said. “I got back to the corner and listened clearly to Glover Teixeira and Plinio Cruz. I didn’t even sit on the stool. I was relaxed. I was feeling good. You know why? Because my strategy wasn’t to expend a lot of energy or throw a lot of strikes. It was to use the first round to make my reads and then start picking up the pace.
“But unfortunately, I got hit. Usually, when I get hit, I pull my head back, but I need to have my feet planted on the ground to do that. When you’re stepping, you can’t do it.”
On what comes next, Pereira said he is injury-free and has suffered no concussion, and asked the UFC backstage at the White House for an immediate rematch with Gane. The promotion did not provide a clear answer. Gane currently holds the interim belt and has requested a title unification bout against undisputed heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall on the Paris card in September, a bout Aspinall has agreed to.
“I’ll stay at heavyweight, and I’m definitely focused on the title,” he said. “In that fight, that lucky punch — I’d call it a lucky punch, Gane closed his eyes when he threw the jab. But I’m definitely going after the belt.”
