Alex Pereira arrived with head coach Glover Teixeira and his team at the fighter’s hotel in Las Vegas last night. Teixeira, alongside coach Plinio Cruz and Vinicius Reviravolta, have been trotting the globe from Australia to the U.S. since last month and training with Pereira everywhere. Gearing up for his clash against Magomed Ankalaev (#1) on Saturday night, Pereira gave a major update on his schedule. In his post on Instagram last night, Alex checked his weight for the fans. ‘Poatan’ weighed 227.5 lbs just 5 days before the official weigh-in date. 

This would mean that ‘Poatan’ needs to shed another 22.5 lbs to make the championship weight on Thursday. While it’s a dream in the fitness world to lose weight at this rate, for ‘Poatan’, it’s a piece of cake. A fine example of what a supreme level of metabolism fighters amass at this level. 

The rivalry between the pair has been simmering for a while now. Pereira and Ankalaev have had their back and forths on social media leading up to this fight. It started off when Pereira showed interest in a potential Jon Jones legacy match. Before the fight was booked, he also teased Ankalaev in a post saying that another fight was on the pipeline “and it is not Ankalaev”. Following which, the Dagestani fired back at the Brazilian calling him “chicken” and accusing him of running away from him.

Confident of his weight, the Light heavyweight champ now had an interesting bet for Ankalaev and his manager, Ali Abdelaziz. In his following post, he said, ”Well everyone after much talk from Ankalaev, together with his manager Ali, I come here with a challenge for this next fight. Saturday March 8th in Las Vegas I’m betting $200000 to donate to children in need, children with cancer.

Poatan added, “Since Ankalaev and Ali seem to be a hundred percent confident that they will beat me. I think they will accept this challenge.” The Brazilian is not hoping for Abdelaziz and Ankalaev to shell out the betting money from their own pockets. In the name of helping children, he also invited anybody to sponsor their side of the bet.“If someone wants to sponsor him the $200k and put it in his name to make the bet, that’s no problem for me. The (my) $200k i’ll give from my pocket” (translation) the UFC champ emphasized in his post.

Is this the magic weight Alex Pereira needs?

Just a day before, Pereira appeared in an interview with SHAK MMA, mentioning his desire to be the simultaneous Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight champion. According to the bossman Dana White, such conditions will now only be entertained by the UFC, if the fighter stays busy in both the divisions defending the belts. ‘Poatan,’ agreeing to this condition, mentioned that his current weight is ideal for him to be able to do that. 227.5 lbs on the fight week sounds perfect for both the weightclasses. 

For Alex Pereira to achieve his dream of being a simultaneous double-champ, first he has to go through the Dagestani threat in front of him on Saturday. Ankalaev’s Sambo background makes him a threat anywhere the fight goes. He has slept people in the past with his hands, and if need be, we have also seen him capable of dragging his opponents to the ground and dominating them. While on paper this seems to be the toughest challenge in front of him, we as fans know that one person who has the heart and the hands to do it is ‘Poatan’. 

Do you think Alex defends his belt this Saturday, or Ankalaev pulls the upset? Let us know in the comments section below.