Alex Pereira won’t wait around for Jon Jones like Tom Aspinall did.
Mainly because he doesn’t think he’ll have to.
“Poatan” is once again on top of the MMA world, following a stunning first-round knockout of Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320. The fast finish evened the score with Ankalaev, who defeated Pereira at UFC 313 in March, and made Pereira a two-time light heavyweight champion.
While Pereira may end up defending his title against streaking contender Carlos Ulberg next, there has been plenty of speculation that he may move up to heavyweight or sign on for an oft-discussed megafight with recently retired (and then un-retired) UFC star Jon Jones. If Pereira and his team puts the gears in motion, he believes Jones is eager to make the fight happen.
“I don’t think so because that’s something he said in interviews he wants,” Pereira said Friday at a Q&A in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, when asked if he’ll have to wait a long time to hear from Jones. “I think he’s on a certain age that’s a little elevated for the sport, like mine, and we don’t have time to waste. I think he will be sincere if he’s interested or not.”
Jones received a heavy amount of criticism from media and fans for not fighting interim UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall while Jones officially held the promotion’s undisputed title. For months, Aspinall made it clear he was interested in unifying the belts, but Jones instead briefly retired in June and relinquished his share of the heavyweight crown before later announcing he would come out of retirement for the chance to fight at the next June’s UFC White House event.
Regardless, a matchup between Jones—who has only lost once in his 30-fight career and that was due to disqualification—and Pereira is sure to garner plenty of interest should it be signed. For now, Pereira is keeping his cards close to his vest as far as how the fight would play out.
“This is MMA,” Pereira said. “Those who know my work, I always say in my interviews that you either lose or win, but I’ll do my best and prepare myself well to come out with the victory.”
A former kickboxing star, Pereira has put together an unbelievable list of accomplishments in MMA despite competing just 16 times under that ruleset. He won the UFC middleweight title in his eighth pro bout with a late knockout of longtime rival Israel Adesanya, and then won the UFC light heavyweight title in his 11th pro bout by defeating Jiri Prochazka. He went on to defend that title three consecutive times in 2024, each time by KO/TKO.
Pereira is a surefire UFC Hall of Fame inductee and inarguably one of the greatest fighters of this era, but he’s not interested in speculating whether a win over Jones would put him ahead of Jones on the greatest of all time list.
“Results and records are not on my control,” Pereira said. “Sometimes we do things and people who have to validate that don’t do it. I’ll only do my job and if they think I’m the best or the No. 2 or in last place, that’s not in my control.”
Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.
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