1 day Ago By Jamie Theodosi
After an entirely dominant 2024, UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is hopeful that he can replicate his fortune in the new year. 2024 saw UFC light heavyweight champion bud into the promotion’s biggest star, defending his title three times on three huge events. Alex Pereira finished the year as Fighter of the Year which was debated by some fans who believed Ilia Topuria had done enough to take the award.
Alex Pereira claims Magomed Ankalaev won’t be next Following his last title defense against Khalil Rountree Jr , ‘Poatan’ teased a potential move up to heavyweight after the champion, Jon Jones said he’d prefer to fight the Brazilian over interim champion, Tom Aspinall. The potential of that fight seemed to take off as the fans began to salivate over the thought of it and Jones and Pereira continued to express their desire for it. Despite that, UFC CEO Dana White then claimed that Jones’ next fight must be against Aspinall as he is the standing interim champ.
And with that, it was assumed that the 37-year-old’s next light heavyweight title defense would come against Magomed Ankalaev considering he had been snubbed previously. PAY IT: Joe Rogan reveals rumoured purse Jon Jones wants for Tom Aspinall fight The Russian is on a 13-fight unbeaten streak and has taken the number one ranking in the 205lb division but despite that, Pereira has shockingly claimed he won’t be next. Joe Rogan offers reason as to why Pereira vs Ankalaev won’t be next Although Ankalaev will be hopeful that ‘Poatan’ is joking and just trying to get under his skin, UFC commentator, Joe Rogan has offered a potential reason as to why that fight might not be next.
“Pereira has challengers in the light heavyweight division, especially Ankalaev,” Rogan said on The Joe Rogan Experience. “He’s supposed to be fighting Ankalaev, Ankalaev is f****** very dangerous and he’s the number one contender and he’s been on a winning streak for a long ass time, he’s only got one draw and that was to Jan Blachowicz who is the former champion. “He’s at the top of the heap and he’s been waiting for a title shot for a long time but he’s been talking a lot of s*** and Alex doesn’t like that he talks s***, so he’s like f*** him and make him wait, Alex just said he’s gonna fight in March and that he’s not gonna fight Ankalaev.
“If he’s fighting in March, when is Ramadan? So he wouldn’t be able to fight, Ankalaev wouldn’t be able to fight in March...
That’s exactly during the time period when (Pereira) wants to fight,” Rogan said. Rumors did spark recently that the promotion was considering a light heavyweight title fight between Pereira and Khamzat Chimaev , however, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Pereira did also recently tease that he will be in Australia in February and UFC 312 is scheduled for the same time.
That led to speculation that he could be fighting Carlos Ulberg next but that also isn’t believed to be true. AURA LOST: ‘Bro lost all his aura’..
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