A title match? Not so fast. Pereira has to earn it, UFC boss is clear after Brazilian’s move to welterweight

Alex Pereira has announced he will move up in weight after losing his middleweight title. Fans were looking forward to his fight with Jiri Prochazka, the Brazilian also exchanged a few words with champion Jamahal Hill. But he can forget about the title fight for now.

The Brazilian fighter came to the UFC middleweight title very quickly. But as quickly as he won it, he lost it even faster. Israel Adesanya knocked him out in the second round in a rematch and is back on the throne.

The question was whether there would be another rematch, but no. Alex Pereira would have to fight Adesanya next and prove his worth against other fighters in the division. Quite possibly why he decided to move up to welterweight.

After all, there are a lot of interesting story lines there. For example, the fight with Jiri Prochazka, the conqueror of Pereira’s trainer Glover Teixeira. The same goes for champion Jamahal Hill.

Pereira has already exchanged a few words with Hill, and the American is ready for the Brazilian puncher. But first on the card is Hill’s rematch with Prochazka. And now Pereira has received a clear message from the UFC boss.

In fact, Dana White has declared that he will not have any privileges in the welterweight division even as a former title holder of the lower weight division. “Put him in a title fight? He’s got to beat a tough opponent to even be considered,” he said at the press conference.

It’s a question of when Pereira will have his next fight. However, if he wants to have it as soon as possible after recovering from a hard knockout, not many names in the top 10 of the rankings are coming up.

There is speculation overseas that Nikita Krylov or Aleksandar Rakic could test him.

Source: UFC, MMA Mania