Dana White isn’t always a fan of fighters looking to move up and down in weight divisions — but the UFC boss admits that it may be a tantalising prospect when it comes to Alex Pereira.

The Brazilian, who has been the reigning UFC light heavyweight champion since last November and who has also previously held the organisation’s middleweight championship, has recently made noises about a possible move to heavyweight in a bid to become the UFC’s first-ever three-division world champion, as well as warning 185-pound champion Dricus du Plessis that he also has designs on his gold.

And while White generally prefers athletes on his roster to stay where they are, he admits that with Pereira it is an interesting option.

“He’s f*cking nasty, that’s my take on him,” White told the media, including The Mac Life, on Tuesday in Las Vegas. “He wants to move up, he wants to move down. That’s why people love him. Those are they type of fighters that people love. Pereira wants to fight everybody.

“The thing that’s great about it is, first of all I said a minute ago it’s why everybody loves him and it’s great, but it also gives us a ton of options that, as we’re matchmaking, ‘should we do this, should we do that.’ It’s a good problem to have with a guy like him.

“How about he’s on vacation in Australia and accepts a last-minute fight [at UFC 303]. Everything about Alex Pereira is what makes fans absolutely love the guy.

“All of these guys are battling time, they all battle time. We’re just gonna have to see what happens over the next couple of months. There’s a lot of fights happening in these weight classes. First Stipe and Jones needs to happen, then we figure out where we go there. Aspinall is obviously the next guy that should get the next title shot, and we’ll see how all this plays out.”