Following middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis‘ UFC 305 submission win over former two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira called out “Stillknocks.”
Pereira has a fight lined up. “Poatan” takes on Khalil Rountree in the UFC 307 main event on Oct. 5 in Salt Lake City. No matter the outcome of the upcoming UFC 307 light heavyweight title fight, Pereira plans to move back down to the middleweight division to challenge for the belt.
“Regardless of the result, I want to go down one more time to middleweight and go for the belt,” Pereira recently posted on Instagram. “”Hey, Dricus, bring your will to fight me so that you can prove that you are better than me. With your public statement, it is easy to make this happen. Chama.”
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Pereira won the 185-pound title by defeating Adesanya at UFC 281 but was knocked out by “The Last Stylebender” in the rematch at UFC 287. Following the loss, Pereira moved up to the light heavyweight division and captured the title. Moving back down to middleweight seems like a bad idea to former middleweight champion Michael Bisping.
“Alex Pereira, the light heavyweight champion of the world, has called out Dricus Du Plessis, the middleweight champion of the world. Now that’s amazing. Double-champ status and all the rest of it. I don’t like it. Simple as that and I have a lot of very, very good reasons why,” Bisping said on his YouTube channel.
“As I said, he’s the light heavyweight champion of the world. Being the light heavyweight champion, it comes with some responsibility,” Bisping continued. “First and foremost, he’s got people to fight already. He’s fighting Khalil Rountree. You can not look past Killa Khalil Rountree. He’s the kickboxer killer. He really is.”
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Pereira does have opponents in the 205-pound weight class. If he gets past Rountree, he has second-ranked Magomed Ankalaev waiting in the wings. Bisping has other reasons he doesn’t want Pereira to move back to middleweight.
“This brings me on to the second reason I don’t like this. We want to see great champions, and Alex Pereira is a great champion. Make no mistake. We want to see them take on all comers in their division,” Bisping said.
“This brings me on to another reason. He’s gigantic. He’s gigantic at light heavyweight. He’d be a big heavyweight and he’s ridiculous at middleweight. How that man ever made middleweight as long as he did is just, it’s a mystery to me,” Bisping continued. “When you cut that amount of weight, it affects your ability to take a shot. That is a fact. Simple as that.”
“Going down to 185 doesn’t make the most sense for him. Been there. Done it. Got the t-shirt. Go to heavyweight If you truly want to become a three-weight division champion.”
https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/michael-bisping-doesnt-like-the-idea-of-alex-pereira-dropping-down-to-middleweight
