Dana White got asked what Alex Pereira has to show him to prove he belongs at heavyweight. The UFC boss kept it short.
Speaking in an interview with UFC on Paramount+, White said the answer was a win, then said it again for good measure: “A win will help.”
That’s the bar for Pereira heading into UFC 335 in December, where he meets Sergei Pavlovich, one of the most dangerous contenders in the division and a guy who doesn’t need many clean shots to end a night. It’ll be Pereira’s second fight since he vacated the light heavyweight title to chase a belt one division up. The first one didn’t go his way.
Pereira lost to Ciryl Gane, and according to Bloody Elbow he has spent a lot of time since talking about his issues with the referee in that fight. He’d also stayed locked in on a Gane rematch right up until the UFC booked both men in different fights on upcoming cards. So much for that.
The loss opened up a pile of questions about whether Pereira should be at heavyweight at all. Some felt he made a mistake by packing on so much extra weight. Others wondered out loud if he’d be better off heading back to 205, where he’d held the belt before giving it up.
He isn’t going back. Pereira still wants heavyweight gold, and that road now runs straight through Pavlovich, which is about as unforgiving a rebound fight as a matchmaker can hand somebody coming off a loss.
Joe Rogan called it a “tough ask,” pointing to Pavlovich’s size, his power and his boxing. Pereira, for his part, answered the booking with what Bloody Elbow described as an ominous message aimed at the Russian after White announced the fight.
There’s a case for Poatan in this one. Pavlovich doesn’t move like Gane, who frustrated plenty of heavier men with his speed and footwork. A more stationary target gives Pereira more chances to time his reads and throw the kind of left hand that made him a two-division problem in the first place. The catch is obvious. Pavlovich will be right there to fire back, and nobody yet knows how Pereira’s chin holds up when a full-sized heavyweight starts landing in return.
I like White’s answer because it’s the honest one. No speeches about legacy, no talk of performance standards or style points. Pereira either beats one of the hardest punchers at heavyweight in December or the questions about whether he moved up for the wrong reasons get a lot louder, and given how both men fight, whoever wins is probably leaving with a highlight.
