UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira has detailed his plans to return in May for the first defense of his belt. It is unclear yet whether he fights Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, or somebody else.
Three months ago, at UFC 281, ‘Poatan’ produced an astounding comeback victory over Adesanya to win the 185 lb title. Behind on the judges’ scorecards in the fifth and final round, the Brazilian unloaded with a brutal combination up against the cage, leaving referee Marc Goddard no choice but to stop the fight.
This was the first time the two had met inside a cage, but across both kickboxing and mixed martial arts, Pereira is 3-0 against the New Zealander.
Israel Adesanya vs Alex Pereira Fight Highlights
Now, the 35-year-old is looking to fight the former champion Robert Whittaker if Adesanaya isn’t ready is unavailable. The Aussie is coming off of a dominant win over #4 ranked Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris in September.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Pereira said: “I see these two guys [next], Adesanya was a dominant champion so he has the preference to be competing for the belt again, but if he doesn’t want that, it will be Whittaker.
“I don’t think they’ll put someone else in other than Whittaker.
“He already said his game doesn’t match well with Adesanya but would be a good fight with me, so I’ll be ready for both.
“I won’t do anything to hurt Adesanya’s plans and avoid this fight, if that’s what he wants, we’ll fight.
“If for some reason he doesn’t want to fight me, that makes no difference to me, it’ll be Whittaker instead.
“And if Whittaker doesn’t want it, there are several others that do.”
Who do you want to see Pereira face in his first middleweight title defence?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
