Alex Pereira gets an opportunity on Saturday night to return to the summit of the UFC light heavyweight division.
In the UFC 320 main event, which comes to you from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, ‘Poatan’ will seek to gain revenge against the incumbent champion, Magomed Ankalaev, following his unanimous decision win over the Brazilian in March.
On that occasion, Ankalaev — defeated just once in his career — employed a clinch-heavy approach to stifle Pereira’s feared stand-up game. Speaking after that contest, though, Pereira said that he walked to the cage at just 40% of his potential owing to some unspecified maladies.
And speaking this week with McKenzie Pavacich, Pereira said it’s in everyone’s best interests that he’s not 100% this weekend.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been at 100%,” Pereira said via translation. “I think if I was at 100% in fighting, I’d probably kill someone.
“In all honesty, if I could pick the outcome, I’d want a five rounder where I can dominate, where I can leave no doubts,” he added of the rematch. “And you know, people are gonna say, ‘Oh, what about the knockout or submission?’ Sure, great. But if I can dominate, if I can control the five rounds and not leave any doubt, that’s what I would really envision and want in a perfect world.”
Separately, speaking at Friday’s pre-fight press conference, Pereira added that Anaklaev’s prior statements that he had been avoiding a rematch were untruthful.
“He’s been lying since the first fight. He said that I turned down fights against him that I said no. Dana’s right here. He can confirm it. Just ask Dana,” he said.
Pereira also paid tribute to his former opponent and erstwhile training partner Sean Strickland, who he says has the one key virtue required in sparring: he keeps coming back.
“I think there’s no secret,” he said of his preparations. “The secret really is training. And Sean Strickland is a great guy with a lot of history. And you know, a lot of guys come to train to me and they don’t come back. And Sean Strickland’s a guy that always comes back and is always great training.”
