Alex Pereira KO’d Jamahal Hill in the main event of UFC 300 last weekend and then called for a heavyweight fight at UFC 301 in Rio, Brazil on May 4th, but his manager has now ruled out any possibility of that happening.
“I want to keep continuing to defend this belt,” Pereira had said in the Octagon after his victory. “I talked a lot about fighting in Brazil if I won this fight. I won this fight. I’m not hurt. Nothing happened. I know there needs to be a lot of promotion behind a fight, but I want to have a fight at heavyweight.”
However, it’s since emerged that Pereira actually broke his toe just two weeks before UFC 300 and as such it won’t be possible for him to heal in time to fight at UFC 301 in less than three weeks time.
“That won’t happen, no way, especially now that he has another broken toe,” Pereira’s manager Jorge Guimarães said on the Trocação Franca podcast. “He has to go to the shipyard and let the dust settle and celebrate the victory. Maybe [go to Brazil] to watch the event, but no fights for him.”
And as for fighting at heavyweight, Guimarães says the plan is for Pereira to stick at 205lbs for now, though they are open to the idea of going up in weight.
“He has the desire, and I’ll tell you this, he’s going to do an incredible job at heavyweight,” Guimarães said. “He’s a super tough fight for anyone in the heavyweight division as well. He’s hungry to fight. He says his time is running out, and he wants to achieve the most he can. He’s extremely confident, and I think he would shine at heavyweight. Let’s see what the UFC has on the table for us, but he won’t be fighting in Rio de Janeiro.”
