Robert Whittaker has already moved into Alex Pereira’s old neighborhood, and he says the door’s open if the Brazilian wants to come home. Speaking to Submission Radio, the former UFC middleweight champion said he’d gladly fight Pereira at light heavyweight if Poatan drops back to 205 pounds.
“It would be great. I would love to welcome him back (to light heavyweight),” Whittaker said. “It would be a lot of fun. We would have to wait and see.”
That last line matters, because the matchup hangs on a fight that hasn’t happened yet. Pereira (13-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC), who has held belts at middleweight and light heavyweight, went after a third title and came up short when Ciryl Gane finished him in their interim heavyweight title fight at UFC Freedom 250. He’s staying big for at least one more outing. Pereira meets Sergei Pavlovich (20-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) in a five-round co-headliner at UFC 335 on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and he has said he’d likely return to light heavyweight if he loses to Pavlovich.
Whittaker, per MMA Junkie’s write-up of the interview, isn’t betting on that loss. He sees the 205-pound picture changing fast and wants to know where Pereira lands in it.
“The division is moving. It’s shifting. A lot of big fights coming up, and we have to see what happens with Pereira,” Whittaker said. “I don’t know how Pavlovich beats Pereira. Pavlovich doesn’t beat him by decision. He’d have to bum-rush him and throw a big bomb of a hand.”
Whittaker (27-9 MMA, 18-7 UFC) talks about big fights with some authority. His résumé runs through Khamzat Chimaev and Israel Adesanya, plus two wars with Yoel Romero. When he finally moved up to light heavyweight, he made the jump look right on the first try, stopping Nikita Krylov at UFC 329.
He’s got his own business first. Whittaker faces Bogdan Guskov (18-4-1 MMA, 4-2-1 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 298 on Feb. 6 at Afterpay Arena in Sydney, a home-country booking for a guy who has spent a lot of his career fighting far from Australia.
Quick take: Whittaker’s read on Pavlovich sounds right to me. If the Russian can’t make it ugly early, he’s looking at 25 minutes against a guy who has been trading with elite strikers in title fights for years, and a decision doesn’t sound like Pavlovich’s path. Which leaves Whittaker’s welcome mat in a weird spot, because he’s basically rooting for a fight he doesn’t expect to get. I’d still take Whittaker vs. Pereira at 205 over almost anything else that division could put together next year, a former middleweight champ against a man who has already won gold at middleweight and light heavyweight. Guskov is the problem in front of him, and that one goes down Feb. 6 in Sydney.
