This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC 320, the light heavyweight title was on the line. Magomed Ankalaev (21-2-1, 1 NC) was looking to defend his title for the first time against the man he took it from in former champion Alex “Poatan” Pereira (13-3).
These two fought for the title back in March and Magomed Ankalaev won a relatively close decision. He was the clear winner in my mind, but the fight was decently close. That was Pereira’s fourth title fight in less than 11 months. There was a lot of rumblings that Pereira was not healthy for that first fight.
Ankalaev said that Pereira was just making excuses while Poatan was saying that he would prove at UFC 320 that he wasn’t 100% in that first fight. Well, that’s exactly what Poatan did on Saturday night.
As soon as Herb Dean started the fight, Pereira went right after Ankalaev. In the first fight, it was Ankalaev who was fighting with forward pressure. Poatan didn’t even give Ankalaev time to breathe on Saturday night.
Within the first minute, Pereira landed leg kicks that immediately forced a stance switch from Ankalaev. Upon the stance switch, Pereira uncorked a massive right hand that made Ankalaev shoot for a takedown.
Pereira defended and pushed Ankalaev to the ground. Once it was there, Poatan unleashed a barrage of shots including some nasty 12-6 elbows to the body and to the head. Ankalaev wasn’t moving at all and because of that, Herb Dean stopped the fight giving Pereira the massive TKO win and he once again is the UFC light heavyweight champion.
What’s next after UFC 320?
Fighters make excuses all the time when they lose and it honestly just becomes noise. The reality is, very rarely does a fighter make the walk at 100% just because of the grind that training is. That said, Pereira showed on Saturday that he truly was not himself in March.
You don’t fight like he did in March and then run through that same opponent who had only one loss in his career and that loss came in the final second of a fight where he was dominating unless you were compromised in that first fight. Pereira made Ankalaev look like he didn’t even belong in there at UFC 320.
Because of how one-sided that fight was on Saturday, there is going to be zero talks of a third fight anytime soon. With that, what’s next for Alex Pereira? The champion has made it clear to the UFC that he wants to move up to heavyweight.
Heavyweight or 205?
He wants to fight Jon Jones at The White House and was going to call for that fight, but decided to ask for a moment of silence due to Jones’ brother passing away unexpectedly last week.
Pereira did say that he hurt his foot in the fight and I’m not sure how long he’ll need to be out. If he’s out an extended period of time, perhaps his next fight will be around June and if that’s the case, I think him and Jones is the perfect super fight to close out The White House card.
Regardless, I think his next fight should be at heavyweight. Unless the UFC is dead set on him fighting a fresh challenger in Carlos Ulberg, I think he should move up. In a couple of weeks, Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane fight for the heavyweight title.
Unless Gane wins and there’s an immediate rematch, there’s not a great next contender at heavyweight. My dream scenario would be for Pereira to face Tom Aspinall early next year with the winner being lined up to face Jon Jones for the heavyweight title in June.
Time will tell in terms of what’s next for Pereira. Dana White hinted that he wanted him to stay at 205, but White also acknowledged that Pereira has been a dream for them and has done everything they’ve asked. If anyone has earned the right to choose his next fight, it’s Poatan.
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