Alex Pereira has been expressing his desire to go back to the middleweight division and compete for the UFC MW championship belt once again. His dominance in the light heavyweight realm has been testified by several title defenses- 2 already this year, with one more to come! But when Dricus Du Plessis successfully defended his middleweight title against Pereira’s former rival, he couldn’t help but voice his desire to fight against the South African champion.

But when Dana White was asked about what he thought of the man with the hands of stone during the DWCS season 8 week 4 post-fight press conference, he declared how impressed he was with the Brazilian. After all, it’s fighters like Pereira who tend to bring in the good fortune for the MMA promotion.

Dana White reveals his thoughts on Alex Pereira and his desire to move back to the LHW division

During the post-fight press conference for Dana White’s Contender Series season 8, week 4, a reporter asked the UFC head honcho about his take on Pereira. Without wasting a single moment, White said, “My take on him is, he’s f***ing nasty. That’s my take on him. He wants to move up, he wants to move down, he wants to go every… That’s why people love him. Those are the type of fighters that people love, you know. Pereira wants to fight everybody. I love it!”

Pereira has been dominating the Octagon in the light heavyweight arena for quite some time now. His next fight is all set to entertain the fighting community as he would go against Khalil Rountree Jr. However, when Du Plessis defeated Israel Adesanya with a rear naked choke, Pereira wanted nothing but to try his skills against DDP. At the same time, the fighting community has often raised interest in watching the Brazilian go up against Magomed Ankalaev. Needless to say, ‘Poatan’s desire to fight Du Plessis was brought up by the reporter.

The reporter asked White if he would grant Pereira his wish in case he defeated Rountree and Du Plessis rose victorious over Sean Strickland. White, however, was a bit unsure about it. He said, “I don’t know. But 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 in matchmaking, should we do this, should we do that, shouldn’t we do this, shouldn’t we do that… I don’t know. It’s a good problem to have with a guy like him.”

With Pereira fixing his eyes on ‘Stillknocks’, the middleweight champion has also pounced on the Brazilian. And Strickland was caught in the crossfire. Now, Pereira has also sent forth a reply to DDP.

‘Poatan’ responds to Dricus Du Plessis’ social media callout

Soon after the Pereira called Du Plessis out, the South African fighter took to X and sent forth an acknowledgment. He dragged in ‘Tarzan’ claiming that Strickland and Pereira were fighting each other on who gets to compete against Du Plessis first. But Pereira took to Instagram to send a response to his next probable opponent. 

The Brazilian fighter said, “I’m focused on my next fight and I’m going prepared but you never know what can happen, so regardless of the result I want to go down one more time to the middleweight and go for the belt. Hey Dricus, bring your will to fight me so you can prove that you are better than me, with your public statement it is easy to make this happen, Chama.”

With the ‘Poatan’ set to defend his LHW title once again at UFC 307 against Rountree Jr, will he win against Rountree and get to fight Du Plessis any time soon? While the MMA realm does want it to happen, the UFC CEO’s words have now cast a shadow of doubt over the matchup. What are your thoughts on Pereira’s wish to fight for the middleweight belt again? Let us know what you think of White’s opinion in the comments down below.