What’s Next for ‘Poatan’ After Vacating the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship?
It finally happened. After dominating the UFC’s Light Heavyweight Division for the past three years, beating the best the division had to offer him, Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira vacated his Light Heavyweight Championship last night. This was confirmed in a livestream on Dana White’s social media and was the biggest piece of news last night. The move has shaped the main event of UFC 327 with Jiri Prochazka and Carlos ‘Black Jag’ Ulberg fighting for the now-vacated Light Heavyweight Championship.
Eight of ‘Poatan’s 11 fights in the UFC have been for some type of championship. He has captured middleweight and light heavyweight gold, becoming a two-time UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. When he moved up to light heavyweight from middleweight, he had one successful fight before going for the gold. Most think that could be the case here. His stardom is bigger than it’s ever been now, and the UFC needs to capitalize on it before it’s too late. Here is what is most likely going to happen with ‘Poatan’.
Move Up to Heavyweight to Fight… Who?
This is most likely the reason why Pereira vacated the belt. Outside of training camp, ‘Poatan’ walks around the size of a UFC heavyweight. He takes a significant weight cut in order to meet the 205-pound limit for light heavyweight. How he ever hit the UFC middleweight 185-pound limit is mind-boggling. The disaster of Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl ‘Bon Gamin’ Gane has left UFC’s Heavyweight Division in a state it hasn’t been in since the days Tim ‘The Maine-iac’ Sylvia was on top, where the UFC’s Heavyweight Division was thin and many analysts and fight fans at the time argued that the best MMA heavyweights were outside the UFC. ‘Poatan’ would give the division the shot in the arm it desperately needs. The UFC needs to be careful of who they match up with ‘Poatan’, however. He needs to adjust to the power. He will probably get hit with a couple of shots. We have seen Israel ‘The Last Stylebender’ Adesanya knock him out at middleweight. A heavyweight only needs one lucky and well-placed shot to put their opponents to sleep. We have also seen ‘Poatan’ get controlled on the ground by Magomed Ankalaev at light heavyweight. Who knows how long Pereira needs to train at heavyweight before feeling ready for a heavyweight fight? With all of these factors, he will most likely not fight for the Heavyweight Championship or fight Jon ‘Bones’ Jones in his debut in the division.
Stylistically, the most intriguing bout would be against Gane. Both men are elite strikers. Gane uses a lot of jabs and leg kicks to set up his big shots. Pereira would look to check those leg kicks and throw some of his own, as well as some body kicks to help set up the killer-lead left hook. While Gane is likely to get his rematch for the Heavyweight Championship, this would be the likely matchup should Aspinall require more time off. This could be an intriguing interim heavyweight title bout. Should Aspinall vacate the title before Pereira’s heavyweight debut, however, Gane vs. Pereira would probably have to wait.
Another stylistically pleasing matchup would be Pereira vs. Sergei Pavlovic. A former interim title challenger, Pavlovic was on a six-fight first-round knockout streak before getting knocked out by Aspinall for the interim heavyweight gold. Pavlovic has the traditional one-punch knockout power that a heavyweight fighter traditionally has, while being technically sound. This matchup could be an entertaining title eliminator bout. If he could avoid the left hook and block incoming head and body kicks, Pavlovic could give a run for Pereira’s money.
Curtis ‘Razor’ Blaydes could be ‘Poatan’s toughest fight in the latter’s heavyweight debut. A victory in his upcoming bout at UFC 327 could put him in the title conversation. He is the division’s best wrestler, and he would likely do whatever possible to take the fight to the ground. ‘Poatan’ would need every bit of ground training from Glover Teixeira in order to have the most success in this bout. Pereira could pull a move out of Derrick ‘The Black Beast’ Lewis’ playbook and throw a vicious uppercut to counter any takedowns, but Blaydes would work out that weakness in training camp. This clash of styles would test Pereira’s complete skillset and prove whether or not he is an elite, well-rounded fighter.
Complete the UFC Trilogy with Adesanya
Speaking of Adesanya, ‘Poatan’ could be the ultimate boogeyman and greet ‘The Last Stylebender’ into retirement. While this is unlikely with their current friendship and at the current stages in their careers, let’s play devil’s advocate to see what this could do for the UFC. The two fought twice in GLORY Kickboxing, with Pereira winning both bouts. Adesanya’s comments in a 2020 interview as the UFC’s Middleweight Champion lit a fire in Pereira to train and fight for the UFC. Two years later, ‘The Last Stylebender’ and ‘Poatan’ would fight at UFC 281, where Pereira knocked out Adesanya in the fifth round. Adesanya would finally get his revenge at UFC 287 with a vicious knockout in the second round. Both men have made over a million dollars in their two UFC bouts against one another. This could be Adesanya’s goodbye from the UFC, going out with over a million dollars from the fight alone. Pereira could also make a similar amount in this fight. A trilogy wouldn’t need much marketing as the fight sells itself, but the right marketing campaign would generate a boatload of money for TKO and Paramount while bringing in a lot of new subscribers to Paramount+. This fight makes a lot of sense business-wise.
