When it comes to Alex 'Poatan' Pereira - nothing is in stone - except for his stone-handed KOs and highlight reels. After a great 2024 with triple KO title defenses on the beat, Pereira recently teased new fight news.
Now, the floodgates are open on that. Fight fans were recently led to believe that the UFC 205-pound champion will move up to fight heavyweight contender Alexander Volkov at UFC 313.
There's been a lot of uncertainty surrounding Alex Pereira after a ginormous title campaign. Twice, he hinted at a move to heavyweight after his defenses. The UFC's light heavyweight division is lacking in top contenders. There are only one or two names that 'Poatan' has yet to face. In turn, Friday, reports surfaced that Pereira would move up to face Volkov at UFC 313 on March 8th in Las Vegas, Nevada.
'Poatan' has made some intimations about talks of making a fight in early 2025, but mostly abstracted out the No. 1 seed for gold Magomed Ankalaev. Now, rumors sent fans into a frenzy on the notion that he was abandoning the division.
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The rumor mill had it to be a No. 1 contender fight. Currently, HW champion Jon Jones is heavily rumored to defend his title against the interim champion Tom Aspinall. Thus, it opens up a challenger's spot for the next undisputed champ.
Alexander Volkov would already have gotten that if not for a controversial split loss (29-28, 28-29, 29-28) at the UFC 310 PPV. The Russian fighter also had his four-fight winning streak snapped against Ciryl Gane. UFC CEO Dana White agreed he got a raw deal and promised to make it up; a title shot seems like a good egg. However, there might be easing news on the 'Poatan' snub and shift front.
Veteran MMA journos debunk Alex Pereira's move to heavyweight
The fight fans were in for a bit of a shock as the two fighters had never had a connection before. But Alexander Volkov is one of the UFC's top heavyweight contenders. So, it would have made sense if Pereira had indeed left the 205-pound division. This would be a stiff test for a 265-pound entry mark.
Alex Pereira vs. Alexander Volkov debunked (Source: X)Alexander Volkov would indeed be a top-tier test. The ex-Bellator MMA champ also swiped out Sergei Pavlovich in the UFC on ABC 6 co-mains before UFC 310. On the other hand, what stung more was Pereira's snub. He has continued to diminish Ankalev as a big enough challenge or head-turner. It is a move to heavyweight limits would only solidify that.
Pereira also teased entering camp around UFC 312 PPV, Live from Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park, right before that. UFC 313 is a hot spot with some 9 Brazilian staples and he'd fit in. However, veteran MMA journo Ariel Helwani, later debunked that Alex Pereira will indeed stay on in the UFC light heavyweight division.
Alex Pereira's next opponent will be Magomed Ankalaev, per sources. That's the plan.
No plans of him moving to heavyweight any time soon. In fact, per his team, he'll need at least six months to move up the way they want him to.