It has been brought to the attention of the mixed martial arts community that Alex Pereira has hinted at an incredibly rapid turnaround between his fights this year.
During the main event of UFC 300, which will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 13, 2024, the light heavyweight champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pereira, is scheduled to defend his title against Jamahal Hill, a former divisional kingpin.
Alex Pereira, a fighter from Brazil, has recently posted a video on his YouTube channel in which he makes the claim that he will first win the UFC 300 event and then compete in the UFC 301 event, which will take place on May 3, 2024 at the RioArena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The explanation was provided by Pereira’s translator:
It has been consistently said by [Alex] that he desires to defend the belt in a very rapid manner. With the shows being so close to each other, this would be the possibility for him to defend at UFC 300 and possibly in Rio [at UFC 301]. Now this would be the opportunity.
He went on to say:
“He said that is a very big possibility, because… if he doesn’t get hurt – he has done this before in kickboxing, so… [if] everything goes fine, there’s a big chance he’ll try to defend the belt very fast.”
Take a look at Alex Pereira’s response to the question below (8:18):
A number of fans were not pleased with what appeared to be an ambitious strategy presented by Pereira, as well as with short-notice fights in general. There were other people on X who made references to the fact that Alexander Volkanovski, a former featherweight champion of the UFC, had a similar situation in October 2023 when he entered a bout with little notice and ultimately suffered two defeats.
People on the internet warned ‘Poatan’ about the possibility of a rapid turnaround from UFC 300 to UFC 301, indicating that a terrible defeat may start a downward cycle. Additionally, there were others who projected that Hill would knock out Pereira and reclaim the 205-pound title, which would prevent Pereira’s intentions from coming to fruition.
Pereira was chastised by one user of X for allegedly missing out on a fight against Magomed Ankalaev, while other users suggested that he compete against Tom Aspinall, who is currently the interim heavyweight title, at UFC 301. In a different vein, other individuals suggested that the 36-year-old Pereira is most likely seeking to compete on a regular basis before the passage of time catches up with him. A supporter tweeted the following:
Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill: A closer look at the recent run of ‘Poatan’ and ‘Sweet Dreams’
During his most recent three bouts inside the octagon, Alex Pereira has a record of 2-1. A knockout in the second round of ‘Poatan”s mixed martial arts rematch against Israel Adesanya in April 2023 resulted in the loss of his UFC middleweight title battle.
Pereira, on the other hand, regained his footing by prevailing over Jan Błachowicz through a split decision in July of 2023. Furthermore, ‘Poatan’ is coming off of a performance that won him the UFC light heavyweight title against Jiri Prochazka, whom he successfully defeated by technical knockout in the second round (November 2023).
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In the meanwhile, Jamahal Hill has won his most recent three fights, first by knockout in the first round against Johnny Walker in February 2022 and by technical knockout in the fourth round against Thiago Santos in August 2022.
In addition, “Sweet Dreams” won the UFC light heavyweight title in January 2023 by virtue of a unanimous decision, defeating Glover Teixeira, who was a buddy of Pereira’s and a training partner of his. Nevertheless, Hill renounced the title in July 2023 due to an injury to his Achilles tendon, and Pereira was able to successfully claim it in the following year.
