Alex Pereira is now a light heavyweight.
“Poatan,” who cut a tremendous amount of weight to make the 185-pound limit, abruptly left the middleweight division in the wake of his knockout loss to Israel Adesanya in the UFC 287 headliner earlier this year in Miami.
Whether or not the move pays off remains to be seen.
Pereira earned a shot at the vacant 205-pound title by scoring a decision victory over Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 and will now try to defeat former light heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka for the vacant division title.
“These middleweights can get on their (expletive) knees and thank me because I got this man out of there. If not, you would have to deal with him over and over and over again, all of you,” Adesanya said on his YouTube channel. “I doubt any of you would want to (expletive) fight this guy. I did four times but I got it done just with one.”
Prior to his Adesanya loss, the 36 year-old Pereira (8-2) was 4-0 at middleweight with knockout wins over “The Last Stylebender” and newly-crowned UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, among others.
As for Pereira’s chances at UFC 295 on Nov. 11 in New York?
“I like this fight because they’re both very unorthodox in their approach, their fighting style,” Adesanya continued. “The way Pereira leg kicks, the way Jiri likes to own the space and throw combos. Even like his potshots, the way he moves. His movement is crazy. Like it’s just very unorthodox. I’m going with Jiri. Five rounds? I don’t think so. Not with this one. Not at light heavyweight. It doesn’t go the distance.”
For much more on Pereira’s title fight at UFC 295 click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
