Dana White is fully on board with Alex Pereira going back down to middleweight.
In October, Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Khalil Rountree Jr. in the main event of UFC 307, but “Poatan” already has his eyes set on another opponent: UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.
After du Plessis’s recent title defense over longtime Pereira rival Israel Adesanya, the light heavyweight champion suggested he’d be open to return to his old middleweight stomping grounds for a matchup, and on Tuesday, he doubled down on that claim, saying regardless what happens at UFC 307, he wants to drop back down and attempt to reclaim the middleweight title he lost to Adensanya last year.
Given that Pereira already has a fight coming up and that he’s previously mentioned the possibility of moving up to heavyweight, some might think “Poatan” is biting off more than he can chew at the moment, but White is not one of them.
“My take on him is he’s f*cking nasty. That’s my take on him,” White said at Tuesday’s Contender Series press conference. “He wants to move up, he wants to move down. That’s why people love him. Those are the type of fighters people love. Pereira wants to fight everybody. I love it.”
Pereira’s willingness to fight anybody at any time has been a huge boon to the UFC this year in particular. The light heavyweight champion stepped in on relatively short notice to serve as the main event of UFC 300, knocking out former champion Jamahal Hill in the first round. He then stepped in on just a couple week’s notice to save UFC 303 when Conor McGregor withdrew from the International Fight Week card due to injury.
But despite what Pereira has done for the UFC this year, White isn’t prepared to commit to allowing him to drop back down and challenge du Plessis. At least not right now.
Instead, White wants to keep their options open.
“I don’t know,” White said when asked if Pereira vs. du Plessis will get booked. “The thing that’s great about it is, first of all, I said a minute ago it’s why everybody loves him and it’s great, but it also gives us a ton of options as we’re matchmaking. 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 with a guy like him.”
For Pereira, though, there may not be much time left. Already 37 years old, “Poatan” had an extensive kickboxing career before joining the UFC, which suggests he may not have many prime years left in the sport. Given that, a Pereira vs. du Plessis matchup may not be guaranteed if the UFC doesn’t jump on it soon. Still, White insists that when it comes to Pereira, the UFC wants to weigh all its options and not just rush into a fight.
“Listen, all these guys are battling time,” White said. “They all battle time. We’re just going to have to see what happens over the next couple of months. There’s a lot of fights happening in these weight classes. First Stipe [Miocic] and [Jon] Jones needs to happen and then we figure out where we go there. [Tom] Aspinall is obviously the next guy that should get the next title shot, and we’ll see how this all plays out.”
UFC 307 takes place on Oct. 5 at Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
