Alex Pereira, contrary to his and the UFC fanbase’s almost unanimous wish, seems like he will continue to be a light heavyweight, at least for the near future. The reigning 205-pound champion, of course, had reiterated his wish to move up to heavyweight and try to become the first fighter ever to win a UFC title in a third weight class.

However, this desire has hit a wall in the form of UFC CEO Dana White, who is dead-set against the idea. Which is why for now, all eyes are on who the Brazilian will face next, having already defended his title twice this year since winning it seven months ago. Verbose UFC analyst and former title contender Chael Sonnen thinks the choice is clear, and had some well, ludicrous advice for Alex Pereira to move up to 270.

Sonnen thinks Poatan losing the title would assure Dana White of his ascent to HW

Chael Sonnen is nothing if not business savvy. The former superstar has one of the best heads for business as far as the fight game goes, which he used to good effect during his UFC stint, getting paid more than many champions despite not having won a UFC title.

And ‘The Bad Guy’ had some surprising, albeit helpful advice for Alex Pereira, which is based upon solid reasoning. Speaking to his co-host, Daniel Cormier, on their ESPN MMA show, ‘Uncle Chael’ felt that the quickest road for ‘Poatan’ to the heavyweight division was for him to lose!

“And as a matter of fact, contrary to popular belief, the best way for Pereira to become a heavyweight is to lose at 205 lbs, and yes you heard me correctly. He became a 205-pounder because he lost at 185, not because he ran through the division,” Sonnen told ‘DC’.

The former middleweight contender pointed out that Alex Pereira had moved up to light heavyweight from middleweight after a loss. ‘Poatan’, of course, had lost his UFC 287 rematch to Israel Adesanya last year at 180, following which he had decided to move up to 205. This was in part because the Brazilian had found the weight cut to 180 too taxing on his body.

But, if he had not lost the title to ‘Izzy’ last year, Dana White may well have been against him moving to light heavyweight since that would have meant that the lineal succession of the title would be interrupted. This is why there seems to be a lot of merit in Chael Sonnen’s observation that the best way for Alex Pereira to move up is to lose the title. And ‘The Bad Guy’ feels that there is a clear choice for Pereira’s next opponent, who just might fast-track his move to heavyweight.

Chael Sonnen sees Magomed Ankalaev next for Alex Pereira

Sonnen felt that given how the division was stacked up at the moment, Alex Pereira’s next opponent would be #2 ranked Dagestani former title contender Magomed Ankalaev. The latter, of course, fought for the then-vacant 205-pound title two years ago, which he lost by a hair’s breadth in a heartbreaking draw. And Sonnen thinks he will have a shot at correcting this pretty soon.

“But I think that you are asking me for a prediction on who Pereira will fight. And I do think it’s going to be Ankalaev. I know there’s some resistance there but that speaks of something about willingness, and Pereira is willing to fight him. To the point that he’s been calling him out. Ankalaev is the only 205-pounder that is even making a claim, a rightful claim to that title,” ‘The Bad Guy’ said.

Surprisingly, ‘Uncle Chael’ felt that the ‘pundits’ who didn’t want to see Alex Pereira lose were calling for ‘Poatan’ to move to 270, as it would help him avoid facing Ankalaev and thus a potential loss. While Pereira is undoubtedly the most dangerous striker at 205, his grappling remains questionable, despite earning his recent black belt in BJJ. And Ankalaev is expected to be a tough test for the Brazilian since the Dagestani is expected to take the fight to the ground.

It is important to note, however, that Ankalaev is not much of a grappler and likes to keep the fight on the feet. But many (perhaps most) UFC fans are under the impression he is a good wrestler simply because he hails from Dagestan. On the other hand, while Ankalaev may prefer to fight on the feet, he can more than handle himself on the ground, and would indeed be expected to use his grappling if he were to face the Brazilian champ. And since ‘Poatan’ has been found lacking on the ground before, Sonnen thinks Ankalaev would be the first to defeat Alex Pereira at 205.

“To the point that the pundits that don’t want to see that fight because they know the risk they don’t want to run the risk of switching roles, of bringing Pereira down and putting Ankalaev on top are talking about getting Pereira to heavyweight. That simply is not going to happen until he cleans out the division,” he added.

However, Alex Pereira’s move to heavyweight seems highly unlikely at the moment. UFC CEO Dana White has been adamant that wants ‘Poatan’ to clean out the light heavyweight division before they could think about a move to the UFC’s heaviest division. Given that Pereira is already 37 years old, and approaching the end of his rope, some fear that day may never come. But Chael Sonnen has a solution for this problem, too.