Ahead of his return tomorrow night, Alex Pereira has been backed by long-time play-by-play lead, Jon Anik to make a surprise comeback to his former middleweight stomping grounds after UFC 313, for a title charge against the incumbent, Dricus du Plessis.
Pereira, a former champion at 185lbs, will defend his light heavyweight championship tomorrow against surging Russian rival, Magomed Ankalaev over the course of five rounds in their overdue grudge pairing.
And looking to defend his title for the fourth time in just eleven months tomorrow night, Brazilian star, Pereira most recently stopped the surge of the streaking, Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 last October, with a stunning fourth round barrage at the Octagon fence.
However, linked heavily this week with a massive heavyweight rise to take on either Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall next, Alex Pereira has been backed to achieve unheard-of three-division championship wins.
Alex Pereira backed for Dricus du Plessis title fight after UFC 313
But as far as veteran play-by-play maestro, Anik is concerned, he has picked the Sao Paulo native to make a shocking middleweight comeback to compete for his old crown against du Plessis.
“I think it depends upon how the fight goes,” UFC 313 play-by-play commentator, Jon Anik, told MMA Fighting. “If Magomed Ankalaev beats Alex Pereira 50-45, and dominates him over 25 minutes, that wouldn’t lay the foundation for a rematch as much as, say, a quick Ankalaev knockout, because ‘Poatan’ has established so much goodwill with the fan base, with the promotion, and you parlay that with the fact that there aren’t a lot of obvious light heavyweight contenders right now. You got Jamahal Hill fighting Khalil Rountree, right? But are you gonna do Ankalaev versus Bogdan Guskov right now? I’m not sure you’re going to do that.”
“The one thing that I will say, Alex Pereira can still make middleweight, and he wants to fight Dricus du Plessis,” Anik continued. “He did not defend the UFC middleweight championship. Of all the accolades for the future UFC Hall of Famer Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira, he never defended the middleweight championship, and if you think for a second that he doesn’t have an appetite, no pun intended, to go back down to 185 [pounds], you’re absolutely crazy. And if the calendar doesn’t align for him to challenge Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall in the heavyweight division, I don’t think he’s going stick around at 205 to fight Bogdan Guskov, even though you and I f*cking love the guy. He’s probably going try to go down to 185 and fight Dricus du Plessis.”
