After defending his light heavyweight belt thrice this year, what’s next for Alex Pereira? Well, #2 ranked Magomed Ankalaev seems our best guess. But let us not forget that Pereira is interested in moving to the heavyweight division. Unfortunately, Dana White has repeatedly dismissed the Brazilian’s aspirations to dominate a third division and now Pereira’s most recent opponent, Khalil Rountree Jr. has said something similar.

“I would like to see him stay at light heavyweight. I get it, you know, guys like Henry Cejudo want to be triple champ, ‘Triple C’s but I really like when guys stay at their weight class and just hold it down there,” Rountree Jr. stated.

Here’s the thing. Ankalaev seems to be the only deserving title contender in the light heavyweight division, but he is positioned to face Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308. So it might be a while before we can see him challenge the champion. No wonder, ‘Poatan’ has been eyeing heavyweight champion Jon Jones’s belt. But Rountree thinks Pereira should stick to 205.

“I’m not a big fan of going up and down and holding up the belt and all that. So you know I’d like to see him stay at light heavyweight… and just like hold it down and you know secure like in this for as long as possible… If Ankalaev wins the next fight, then yeah, he should be next, okay,” he said on the ‘Pound 4 Pound Podcast’ with former UFC champions Henry Cejudo and Kamaru Usman. But one more thing.

Alex Pereira is 37, so if he wants to make important moves, now is the time. He has great momentum currently.

However, Pereira, after beating Rountree last weekend, said he was content at light heavyweight, which probably means Ankalaev will be next for him— that is if the Dagestani can defeat Rakic in Abu Dhabi, as ‘War Horse’ pointed out. But what if Ankalaev loses? Who would Pereira fight next?

Alex Pereira is virtually without any potential opponent at the moment…

There aren’t any top-five ranked 205-pounders except Ankalaev. All of them have either already been dealt with by the Brazilian, coming off of losses, or are gearing up for fights (in the case of Ankalaev). This is why Dana White and co. had to go down to #8 ranked Khalil Rountree for Pereira’s latest title defense.

A rematch with Jamahal Hill could be in order, given the controversy around their UFC 300 clash. Well, what happened is, during round 1 of their UFC 300 clash, Hill’s kick looked like it hit Pereira in the groin. While the referee Herb Dean was about to pause the fight, Pereira waived him off, signalling that he was okay. But just seconds after that, the Brazilian knocked out Hill.

Hill believes Pereira took advantage of the moment to KO him. “[Alex], you really set up a punch you couldn’t get to without a weird, confusing moment and did some weak sh–, but [it’s] OK because you will fight me again…” ‘Sweet Dreams’ opined.

Another rematch contender could be #4 ranked Jan Blachowicz, who gave ‘Poatan’ hell in their UFC 291 clash last year. Indeed, it was Poatan’s worst performance at light heavyweight, as he managed to get away with a split-decision win.

Interesting Fact: In Alex Pereira’s last five fight wins, Jan Blachowicz is the only fighter he couldn’t KO/TKO.

But since the Pole is likely to take down Pereira, who is weakest on the ground, that seems unlikely. If Aleksandar Rakic beats Ankalaev, he too will have a good case to make for a title shot. If, on the other hand, Ankalaev wins, the UFC will almost have no choice but to match him up against the champ.

Who do you think should be Alex Pereira’s next opponent? Let us know in the comments below.