Dana White is coming around to the idea of Alex Pereira moving up to heavyweight.
The UFC CEO has essentially ruled out a crossover fight between ‘Poatan’ and Oleksandr Usyk.
However, he is open to making another super fight if his light heavyweight champion beats Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
First things first, Dana White is focused on getting a heavyweight unification clash between Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall over the line.
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
On Wednesday, White conducted several interviews to promote his new boxing business and UFC 313.
Naturally, he was also asked to provide an update on Jon Jones and his future with MMA’s premier league, which is looking fruitful as the heavyweight champion is expected to return to action this summer.
Provided he gets by Aspinall, ‘Bones’ could well be matched up with Pereira later this year.
“Yeah, the plan is to fight Jon this summer,” White told Jim Rome.
“Obviously, when, where and all that stuff is being determined.
“My goal is to make that [Aspinall] fight.”
“Let’s see how this [UFC 313] fight plays out. If he wins and how he wins.
“The fight that everybody wants to see right now is Jones and Aspinall.
“There’s no doubt that Pereira could fight the winner.”
Last September, Pereira and Jones agreed to train together after meeting at UFC 306.
Since then, the chance of the two MMA superstars fighting has drastically increased.
With a potential clash on the horizon, Pereira has rescinded his offer to train with Jones.
“To be honest, I don’t think that makes as much sense any more,” Pereira told Bloody Elbow.
“Back when I said that I would like to fight at heavyweight people already put the dots together and basically mentioned Jon Jones.
“So that’s something that is speculated, even if it’s just by the fans. So I wouldn’t want to go and train with him now, and then if we end up fighting, people will end up saying a bunch of stuff about whatever in the fight.
“So I think it wouldn’t make sense now, but if we were to fight one day and then go train I think it would make total sense.”
Alex PereiraDana WhiteMMAUFCUFC 313
