One of the main reasons UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira left the middleweight division without a trilogy fight with Israel Adesanya despite losing his title to ‘Izzy’ is because he found the weight cut to 185 pounds too painful on his body. ‘Poatan’ had, of course, defeated nemesis Israel Adesanya and won the title, following which he would do the same at light heavyweight, which was a more natural weight class for Pereira, and win the gold as a 205’er. But what is his normal weight?

Weight cuts are often a hard process that is required for any and all fighters to maintain the legal weight limit for any contest. This does not give us a clear picture of how much they weigh when they walk around while out of competition.  Hence, as Alex Pereira sets up to face Jiri Prochazka in the main event of UFC 303, we will take a look at his walkaround weight.

How much does Alex Pereira weigh when not fighting?

UFC commentator and podcaster Joe Rogan once called weight-cutting a form of “cheating that everybody agrees to”. While the practice is pretty common and almost universally practiced by fighters (with some notable exceptions like Colby Covington), it does have some drawbacks.

In an interview with Ariel Helwani last year, ‘Poatan’ said, “I weighed around 103 kgs, approximately 224-225 lbs [on his 205 lbs debut fight].”  When asked about his weight at middleweight, he stated, “When I fought at 185 lbs, I entered the cage at about 210 lbs.”

Alex Pereira decided to move up to light heavyweight precisely because he was finding cutting weight to make 185 lbs (the middleweight limit) extremely painful. This raises the question: what is Pereira’s walkaround weight?

While there is no definite information about it, Pereira reportedly weighs around 230 pounds, which means he had to cut over 50 pounds when he was fighting at middleweight, and still has to cut around 30 pounds at light heavyweight.

The process of weight cutting involves losing weight by dehydrating oneself, often severely, which leads to a more vulnerable chin during the fight. This is on top of the severe pain that the fighters go through, which only gets more difficult as one gets on in age. Luckily for Pereira, his best attribute is holding strong despite the move up in weight class. But will he ever decide to get rid of the weight-cutting process and jump to heavyweight one day? Well, there’s a possibility.

Can Alex Pereira fight in the heavyweight division?

Alex Pereira holds legendary, one-punch knockout power, especially in his left hand. However, as he moved up to light heavyweight from middleweight and geared up to face bigger and stronger opponents than at 185, there were questions about how his power would translate to the UFC’s second-heaviest weight class. His first fight at 205 pounds against former champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 did not pan out very well for ‘Poatan’, as he won a controversial split-decision victory over the Pole. The Brazilian did not get a chance to test his power since a significant part of the fight took place on the ground.

However, in his second (and title fight) against former champion Jiri Prochazka, which was an exclusively stand-up affair, Pereira showed he still had the bomb of a left hand. The former two-weight GLORY Kickboxing champion knocked out the Czech on his feet in the second round of their UFC 295 clash last year. He would do the same to Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, registering another knockout, and showcasing the power in his hands. After all these successes, Alex Pereira discussed a potential move to heavyweight to claim a third title, something that’s never been done in the history of the UFC. “I can definitely fight at heavyweight, maybe someday in the future. But it’s got to be something that’s well-planned. So right now I’m focused on my light heavyweight reign,” Alex Pereira told ‘TheMacLife’.

However, his legendary power and striking abilities are expected to be tested in his upcoming rematch bout against Jiri Prochazka, himself a dynamic and powerful striker as the Czech fighter would be mindful of the last result. What are your predictions for UFC 303?

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