LAS VEGAS – Alex Pereira desires to go up. He desires to go down. He’s also comfortable staying put.
The flexibleness the present UFC light heavyweight champion Pereira (11-2 MMA, 8-1 UFC) has expressed with regards to weight classes has impressed promotion CEO Dana White. That features the recent callout of Dricus Du Plessis by “Poatan.”
“My tackle him is, he’s f*cking nasty,” White told MMA Junkie and other reporters at a Dana White’s Contender Series 70 post-fight news conference Tuesday. “That’s my tackle him. He wants to maneuver up. He wants to maneuver down. He desires to go in all places. That’s why people love him. Those are the kind of fighters people love. Pereira desires to fight everybody. I like it.
“… The thing that’s great about it’s, for this reason I said a minute ago everybody loves him and he’s great. Nevertheless it also gives us a ton of options that as we’re in matchmaking, ‘Should we do that, should we do this? Shouldn’t we do that, shouldn’t we do this?’ It’s a very good problem to have with a man like him. How about he’s on vacation and accepts the last-minute fight? Every little thing about Alex Pereira is what makes fans absolutely love the guy.”
Pereira, 37, is currently booked to defend the promotion’s light heavyweight title Oct. 7 at UFC 307 vs. Khalil Rountree (13-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC). He previously held the UFC middleweight title.
Du Plessis (22-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) doesn’t have a title fight booked, though Sean Strickland has been identified because the likely next challenger. He most recently competed Aug. 17 when he defeated Israel Adesanya at UFC 305.
White was noncommittal to a possible matchup between Pereira and Du Plessis should they each win.
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