Jon Jones recently revealed he has arthritis on his left hip, an injury serious enough to qualify him for a hip replacement, and that directly impacts Alex Pereira’s plans for the future.
“Poatan” was targeting a heavyweight bout with “Bones” on the upcoming UFC event at the White House on June 14, but the revelation could mean that Jones no longer returns to action. However, the UFC light heavyweight champion doesn’t seem to think it could be a deal breaker.
“I think every athlete has chronic injuries, serious injuries,” Pereira said in an interview with Valter Walker’s YouTube channel. “If a high-level athlete says something like that, for the history he has, it’s not new to me.”
Pereira still seems interested in being part of the White House event in June even if Jones is not the dance partner, and keeps the door open for a move to the heavyweight division.
“Whoever they put in front of me, I’ll be fighting,” Pereira said. “I love fighting, so it doesn’t matter weight classes — of course, if you say middleweight I can’t make that anymore. At the other two divisions, light heavyweight and heavyweight, [the opponent] is indifferent to me.”
With talks of a potential move to heavyweight to take on Jones or even Ciryl Gane, while Tom Aspinall recovers from a double eye surgery, the list of contenders at 205 pounds continue to get shorter after the Brazilian beat several former champions.
“Poatan” doesn’t think, however, that he has already cleaned up the division.
“I think that everybody there, at least the ranked ones, have a chance [of winning] at any moment,” Pereira said. “They’re beating each other up, so they’re the best. From No. 10 up, any fighter you put in there is dangerous. It’s a fight. There’s plenty of people — maybe not relevant names, but I don’t care about that. If you train and you’re ranked and you want to fight, let’s fight.”
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