Drake Riggs Uncrowned Thu, October 22, 2026 at 12:09 AM UTC · 5 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alex Pereira is staying put at heavyweight, despite his divisional debut not going his way.
In June, the former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion was one win away from becoming the promotion's first-ever three-weight titleholder. However, Ciryl Gane had other plans when they met at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House. Gane's second-round TKO spoiled the party for Pereira and put "Poatan" back in the contender queue as he gears up for a Dec. 12 showdown with Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 334.
Originally, Pereira sought a rematch with the now-heavyweight champion Gane and said he was told by UFC that it was a possibility, before they landed on Pavlovich as an opponent to close out the year. On Wednesday's edition of "The Ariel Helwani Show," Pereira explained his initial frustrations regarding his upcoming second heavyweight bout.
"What got me more upset at that time was because they told me that I was possibly going to fight Gane for the belt, or fight [Josh] Hokit, and then none of that happened. They do whatever they want is on the contract," Pereira told Uncrowned through a translator.
"Maybe they didn't want to run the fight again. Maybe they wanted more diversity on the fights. It's kind of hard to understand."
Instead of Pereira, fellow contender Josh Hokit gets the next title shot. He's set to face Gane in the main event of UFC 334 at New York's Madison Square Garden.
A Hokit fight is exactly what Pereira wanted if a title shot wasn't an option. He ended up with neither, but the bad blood that built this year between Hokit and Pereira wasn't why "Poatan" wanted the fight. He said it's simply an easier matchup than Pavlovich.
"Coming from a loss, fighting Hokit would be much, much easier for me than fighting Pavlovich, who's supposed to be a harder fight. Hokit would be a much easier fight for me," Pereira said.
"Pavlovich is a little more dangerous opponent. But looking at it in a technical way today, I see that [Pavlovich is] actually also a very good fight for me."
Losing his first title shot in his heavyweight debut seemingly left Pereira in an odd spot. He's always had options as a talent who's transcended weight classes, but was that it? One and done in the land of giants?
Pereira admitted that he considered returning to 205 pounds, where he left his most recent belt, but he ultimately decided to give heavyweight another proper go.
"I thought about it, but I'm a very competitive guy. The original plan was to stay at heavyweight and fight all these guys," Pereira said.
"When I was training for the Gane fight, and Tallison Teixeira was in camp with us, he fought Pavlovich and he lost. So, back then, the guys are going, 'Pavlovich is tough, he's a machine.' Then, in my mind, I was like, 'Bro, I'm going to beat Ciryl Gane, and right there on the microphone, I'm going to call out Pavlovich, because I think it's a good fight.' I always like the challenge. Things ended up happening naturally.
"If it doesn't work, I'm not going to be the guy trying to go too much with these heavyweights if I have a different option. The UFC offered Pavlovich, but I already had that fight in mind. ... It wasn't surprising when they offered it. OK, let's go. It's a fight I wanted to do anyway."
Alex Pereira is back in action at UFC 334.
Pereira, 39, knows he's reached the back end of his combat sports career after a lifetime of fighting. Capturing heavyweight gold is still his main objective, but that doesn't mean he'll overstay his welcome if it doesn't pan out, as many fellow legends did before him.
"If I start losing, if things start not going too good, I don't want to be a stepping stone for nobody to be going up," Pereira said. "I'll just be focusing on enjoying my time and enjoying my money.
"We did a very good career plan for me, my kids, my future, my kids' future, for the institute that I built. We're all settled, so I have nothing to prove anymore."
Despite his insistence to continue fighting at this stage of his career, Pereira has been met with ample criticism after his latest knockout loss.
Though he's been knocked out before, seeing it happen at heavyweight has raised concerns among some about whether Pereira's chin will hold up in the weight class. That's from doubters, though; not Pereira. He doesn't give that sentiment much credence, and believes he's still a durable competitor in the sport's heaviest division.
"First of all, the fools that say I cannot take a punch, I can call them a bunch of idiots," Pereira said.
"At the end of the day, I took those punches in the beginning of the [Gane] fight. Everybody was still fresh and still in the fight. Anybody who takes a hit like that, sometimes people go down, go out cold. I didn't. I was still able to fight. So, guys who talk like that, I just call them idiots."
Meanwhile, Pereira is fully in fight mode and will be watching UFC 334's title fight closely.
The upcoming challenger, Hokit, speed-ran his way to a title shot, much like Pereira did when he joined the promotion in 2021. With three fights in less than a year, Pereira earned his first UFC title shot and won middleweight gold against longtime rival Israel Adesanya. Hokit has essentially done the same, racking four UFC wins since arriving last year.
Ultimately, Pereira still views Hokit as too inexperienced for the moment against one of the division's longstanding mainstays, Gane.
"I don't think [Hokit is ready]. He is on a winning streak, but against opponents that are not in a good moment in the UFC. The results show that," Pereira said.
"If you see the last fights, [Hokit] was actually getting very tired. Those guys aren't even in a good moment in the UFC, and he was already getting tired. So imagine a five-round fight. Unless he really changed from the last fight to this one, it's going to be hard. This is not just me saying it; go and watch the fights, and you'll see."
Source: Sports
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