Magomed Ankalaev never saw it coming! Alex Pereira shocked, dropped, and finished the Russian within 1 minute and 20 seconds of the first round. Immediately after, the Brazilian kickboxer hinted at his plans moving forward. Although the sudden and unfortunate passing of Arthur Jones stopped Pereira from properly calling out Jon Jones, the mere prospect of Pereira’s move to heavyweight was enough to start conversations. 

“I want a superfight. It would be at the White House against Jon Jones,” Pereira solidified his intention. However, there’s one problem: UFC CEO Dana White is hesitant about letting the current biggest name in the UFC take such a risk. “It’s not like jumping up two weight classes in boxing. It’s a big jump… He’s in a division where there’s still some interesting fights,” he said. While White has a valid point, former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker doesn’t agree. 

Robert Whittaker claims there’s no one good enough for Alex Pereira at LHW

Speaking to co-host Jonny Roses during his MMArcade Podcast recently, ‘The Reaper’ brought up a good point. He questioned whether there’s anyone even left at the light heavyweight division who stands a chance against Alex Pereira. “The guys who had the best chance of beating Alex Pereira aren’t in the division anymore. It was a generation ago, unfortunately, it was an era ago,” Whittaker said.

He further argued that moving up to heavyweight is the only right move for the Brazilian kickboxer, where guaranteed super stardom awaits him. “There’s no one in that division posing a threat to Alex. Moving up to heavyweight is the right thing to do, super-stardom-wise and money-wise,” Whittaker said during the interview. While he didn’t explicitly mention Jon Jones, Pereira and Jones have flirted with the idea of fighting before.

There is Carlos Ulberg, who looks like the next best option for a title fight. But does he really present a stylistic challenge that Magomed Ankalaev did? Besides, Pereira’s UFC 320 win necessitates bigger names that Ulberg next. That brings us to a jump up to heavyweight.

Jones’ desire to feature in next year’s UFC White House card is well known at this point. The only problem is that he fell out of favor with Dana White after he retired from the UFC. Regardless, even if ‘Poatan’ can’t fight Jones specifically, he has the option to face Tom Aspinall or Ciryl Gane, depending on who wins the heavyweight title at UFC 321. But he doesn’t particularly seem interested in them. Regardless, there’s another who wants to fight Alex Pereira.

Alex Pereira reacts to Khamzat Chimaev’s callout

Immediately after Pereira’s win, Khamzat Chimaev jumped in to secure the opportunity to face Pereira. “@AlexPereiraUFC Congrats, now we need to finish our business,” he wrote on X. However, Pereira didn’t seem too impressed by Chimaev’s callout. The two have long been linked to a potential clash, with their rivalry heating up after Chimaev mocked Pereira’s knockout loss to Israel Adesanya.

Pereira once even bet that Chimaev wouldn’t be able to take him down, but a fight never came close to happening. Regardless, reacting to Chimaev’s callout for a fight, the Brazilian didn’t want another Russian opponent. ‘Poatan’ dismissed the idea of facing Chimaev for now. “Thanks for congratulating me but all I want is a super fight, I wanna fight at heavyweight but all I can say is thank you,” Pereira said.

Pereira vs. Chimaev is a super fight, yes. But it does not do for ‘Poatan’ what it will do for ‘Borz.’ Pereira will be the one taking the risk regardless of the fight happening at middleweight or light heavyweight. But at heavyweight, he is the one chasing glory and a historic third divisional belt in the UFC. And it’s unlikely that the UFC will let Chimaev jump up a weight class right after he won the 185 lbs belt.

For now, all signs point to Pereira’s move to the heavyweight division. While Dana White might have some issues with it, even he can’t deny how big Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira would be. Would you like to see that fight happen?