Halloween morning truly turned out to be scary for UFC fans after news broke out that Belal Muhammad was out of UFC 310. ‘Bully B’ has contracted a bone infection on one of his toes, forcing him to pull out of that card, and while Shavkat Rakhmonov hopes to still fight, who could replace the champion? Well, names like Kamaru Usman, Leon Edwards, and Ian Garry are being thrown around.

On the other hand, people have noticed how Alex Pereira has been bailing the UFC out of difficult situations. Take UFC 300 and 303 for instance, where he stepped in on short notice. Owing to this, he even defended the light heavyweight title thrice this year. So could the main event be replaced by a light heavyweight title fight?

Well, verbose UFC analyst and former title contender Chael Sonnen knows who will be the new main event for that card. “My guess is you’re going to pull Rakhmonov off, you’re going to wish Belal well and you’re going to wait for another date. Now the conversation part of it, I know what they’re going to do,” Sonnen teased, before making the big reveal.

“Do you want me to tell you what they’re going to do? All right, they’re putting Ankalaev and Pereira in there. There you go, that’s the answer. But I didn’t want to get right to that because first off, that isn’t signed, but that has been offered and that has been accepted by both parties,” Sonnen told fans on his YouTube channel.

If Sonnen’s words turn out to be true, it would be quite surprising. After all, the Brazilian last fought at UFC 307 in October. So fighting again in December seems next to impossible. But hey, that’s ‘Poatan’ we are talking about. Let us not forget how he fought at UFC 300 in April and then also turned up for UFC 303 in June.

Another interesting tidbit is that if Pereira does enter the octagon at UFC 310 and grabs a win, he will have broken the record for the most title defenses mounted in a year at four.

Also, Magomed Ankalaev wouldn’t say no to a fight against the champion. In fact, he was quite disappointed when Khalil Rountree Jr. got a title fight before him. All that being said, Ankalaev’s last fight was at UFC 308 in October. While Pereira may be okay with a quick turnaround, fans haven’t seen Ankalaev do something similar lately.

Now Alex Pereira stepping in to save UFC cards may have become a trend, but there’s something more we need to consider. His team has apparently contradicted Sonnen’s claims.

Alex Pereira’s team muddies water as Ankalaev confirms availability for UFC 310

MMA media personality Ariel Helwani has claimed that Alex Pereira’s team has spoken to him about his status for the UFC 310 card. The news is not good. Apparently ‘Poatan’s team told Helwani that he will not be fighting on the December PPV card and has different plans for the end of the year.

On the other hand, Pereira had sent out a telephone emoji on social media after Belal Muhammad pulled out. This, combined with Sonnen’s aforementioned claims, however, makes it seem Pereira may well step in to replace Muhammad at UFC 310. But if Alex Pereira’s team has indeed denied this, then that supersedes these speculations and even ‘Poatan’s tweet.

Ankalaev, however, is ready to fight on UFC 310 on short notice. The Dagestani, who fought just his weekend at UFC 308, tweeted to confirm that he will be ready to step in if the UFC wants him to fight on the year’s final PPV card.

“I spoke to my manager, if the UFC need me for December 7, I am all in, Let’s go,” he wrote and in another tweet, he tagged UFC matchmaker Mick Maynard and mentioned, “Send me the contract. I’m ready let’s do this.”

Right now, there is a lot of buzz about whether Pereira-Ankalaev will happen on UFC 310, but until the UFC announces an official replacement, nothing can be said for certain. What are your thoughts on Alex Pereira replacing Belal Muhammad on UFC 310?