Dricus du Plessis says that Alex Pereira’s UFC 313 defeat to Magomed Ankalaev has potentially cost him a bumper payday.

Former two-division champion Pereira was outpointed by Russia’s Ankalaev earlier this month in the main event of the UFC’s latest fight card from inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, in what was just the second defeat of his UFC career and his first ever at 205-pounds.

While it appears likely that Pereira will be offered an immediate opportunity for revenge against Ankalaev, another interested observer to the contest was the organisation’s middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis — who says that Pereira’s loss has likely extinguished any interest in a possible fight between him and the Brazilian who held the middleweight title for six months between late 2022 and early 2023.

“Thanks Ankalaev, for taking the biggest payday of my life. It’s nothing personal. No, aura gone,” Du Plessis said, addressing the possibility of him taking on Pereira while speaking to Jackson O’Doherty on YouTube.

Du Plessis maintained, however, that he retains significant respect for Pereira for “coming into a sport, that he doesn’t know at his age” and going on to win world titles in two weight classes.

That said, Du Plessis said that the blueprint used by Ankalaev to defeat ‘Poatan’ would have been similar to what he would have employed in a hypothetical title fight.

“Listen, look at what I said in the beginning. If you don’t fight Pereira, he can’t fight. Look at this, he’s waiting for something. He’s going to counterpunch him. So people pay money for this. He’s just waiting on that one. I’m going to low-kick you, how are you going to counter me if I don’t punch?”