Former UFC champion Daniel Cormier has warned Alex Pereira about any heavyweight ambitions he might have. 

Brazil’s Pereira was defeated by judges’ decision by Magomed Ankalaev in last weekend’s UFC 313 main event inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in what was just his second defeat since joining the organisation in November 2021 — and after establishing himself as one of UFC’s most dominant strikers following a string of impressive wins over the likes of Jiri Prochazka, Jamahal Hill and Israel Adesanya.

Such was his dominance that speculation arose to suggest that Pereira may target what would be an historic world title at heavyweight to add to the belts he had already won at 205 and 185-pounds. But Cormier, a former champion of both the heavyweight and light heavyweight frames, has warned ‘Poatan’ to not bite off more than he can chew after witnessing his struggles to overcome Ankalaev’s forward pressure last Saturday night.

“Watching him and Ankalaev fight, it gives me the idea,” Cormier said on ESPN’s Good Guy/Bad Guy with Chael Sonnen, as noted by BJPenn.com.

“I think he’s kind of maxed out the weight he can go up. I don’t think he’s strong enough to go with anyone bigger.”

Cormier added: “The amount of pressure that Ankalaev was able to generate without the danger coming back at him like we expected, those heavyweights would kind of just walk right through what he was throwing at him.”

Prior to last weekend’s fight, Pereira had suggested that there was a possibility of a cross-code showdown with Oleksandr Usyk, though chances of that have now likely diminished follow the defeat to Pereira.

In the wake of the title change, UFC boss Dana White suggested to the media that an immediate rematch between Ankalaev and Pereira is likely.