Dana White has repeated for the umpteenth time that no, Jon Jones will not fight Alex Pereira. The UFC CEO joined Pat McAfee and crew on their fan-favorite ESPN show, where he was asked yet again if he agreed with Joe Rogan that light heavyweight champion Pereira should fight heavyweight champion Jon Jones.

“No,” White responded without a second thought or hesitation, to disappointed jeers from McAfee and crew. ‘Poatan’, of course, has said many times now that he wanted to move up and fight for the heavyweight title, and get a shot at becoming the UFC’s first-ever three-division champ before he retires. However, the UFC CEO, despite the almost unanimous wish of the UFC world, has flatly refused to have Pereira and Jones fight in what would undoubtedly be a mega-fight.

And to make matters worse, even Jon Jones has indicated he wants to fight the Brazilian, whose meteoric rise and string of knockouts has made him one of the biggest mixed martial artists in history after only four years in the promotion. In a tweet earlier this year, Jones, who is slated to face Stipe Miocic this November, indicated that he would be willing to face ‘Poatan’ at 270 after the Miocic fight simply because of what a win over him will do for his already great legacy.

However, just because Jones and Pereira will not fight in the near future doesn’t mean the Brazilian’s three-division champ dreams are dead on arrival.

Alex Pereira may yet get heavyweight title shot but not at Jon Jones

According to recent reports, Dana White and co. have something special planned for Alex Pereria. The rumor mill started after Magomed Ankalaev, who is clearly the best candidate for a light heavyweight title shot at the moment was announced to be scheduled to fight #5 ranked Aleksandar Rakic this October instead.

Shortly before the announcement, Magomed’s manager had revealed that the UFC have ‘different plans’ for ‘Poatan’. And it turns out, these ‘plans’ may involve Pereira fighting in a different weight class than light heavyweight for his next fight.

Plan A, according to MMA reporter Reuben Carter, is a much-awaited Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya trilogy for the middleweight title. But that entirely depends upon ‘Izzy’ winning the title in his upcoming UFC 305 clash against reigning champion Dricus Du Plessis.

If the Kiwi loses to ‘DDP’ on the Perth card this Saturday, however, Dana White is mulling letting ‘Poatan’ move up to heavyweight. The promotion will reportedly book the light heavyweight champion against current interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall next year (by which time he may well be the undisputed champion). All things considered, Pereira has an added incentive to root against Adesanya for his grudge match against Du Plessis. Who do you think Alex Pereira should fight next?