New Alex Pereira BTS sparks concern, Dana White vows to fix UFC rankings, Tom Aspinall takes a jab at Francis Ngannou: MMA News Roundup

New footage of Alex Pereira cutting weight ahead of UFC 307 sparked concern among fans on social media. Elsewhere, Dana White vowed to fix the issues with the ranking system.

Get your daily dose of combat sports updates with Sportskeeda MMA.

Alex Pereira shares video of struggling to make weight

Alex Pereira is notoriously big even for the light heavyweight division, which makes it quite shocking that he ever made 185 pounds before. In a recently shared video on his YouTube channel documenting his preparation for UFC 307, 'Poatan' was seen struggling to make the 205-pound limit for his title fight against Khalil Rountree Jr.

Watch Alex Pereira's weight-cut journey below (02:10):

Despite the troubles, Pereira went on to successfully make weight for the fight. In a previously shared post-weigh-in video, he revealed that he had gone up to 230 pounds, gaining nearly 25 pounds between hitting the scale and entering the cage.

Some fans expressed concern for Pereira on social media, while others labeled him a "weight bully." One fan said:

"This is not easy. See what these men go through to become very good fighters"

Another wrote:

"Bro is struggling to cut to 205, and people act like he wasn’t weight-drained when Izzy knocked him out."

Dana White vows to fix UFC rankings

In a video shared on Instagram Story, Dana White pulled no punches while blasting the panel that decides the official rankings every week. After last week's UFC 307, Khalil Rountree Jr. did not move up in the light heavyweight division despite a spectacular performance, which did not sit well with the CEO:

"'The morons strike again. Khalil Rountree fights that bada** fight against [Alex] Pereira, and the morons rank him No. 8. Literally this week I have a meeting to try to fix the rankings and get all these know-nothing, do-nothing motherf***ers out of it. So, hopefully, this week I get this fixed.''

Tom Aspinall takes a jab at Francis Ngannou

Tom Aspinall believes Francis Ngannou will not fight the best opponents possible at PFL. Ngannou is set to make his MMA return against Renan Ferreira on PFL's Battle of the Giants card for the first time since the public split with the UFC.

Aspinall, the current interim heavyweight champion who has been chasing Jon Jones for a good while now, weighed in on Ngannou's competition in an appearance on Ariel Helwani's new show:

"I have a lot of respect for [Francis Ngannou] and I really appreciate his story. I really appreciate what he's done in the sport, but it's hard to debate right now. The guy he's fighting, he's not elite, do you know what I mean? And the guys he'll be fighting in the future aren't elite and it's as simple as that. These aren't the best guys in the world."

Aspinall continued:

"The elite guys are not in the PFL. The elite guys are in the UFC... It's difficult to say that he's the best heavyweight in the world when he isn't fighting elite guys."

Check out Tom Aspinall's opinion below (28:30):