Alex Pereira expresses distaste for Jamahal Hill’s title reign, considers potential future showdown
It looks like UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira is on a collision course with light heavyweight kingpin Jamahal Hill.
Earlier this year at UFC 283, Hill claimed the vacant 205-pound title in a one-sided unanimous decision win against Pereira's mentor Glover Teixeira.
The American is now looking forward to defending his title against former champion Jiri Prochazka once 'Denisa' recovers from his shoulder injury. However, 'Poatan' has other plans.
The Brazilian popped up in the comments section of one of Hill's Instagram posts, suggesting that 'Sweet Dreams' face him instead since Prochazka is currently out of action.
During an exclusive interview with BT Sport, 'Poatan' explained his beef with Hill and shed light on what made him consider potentially fighting the American in the future:
"I say what I say about Jamahal Hill... mostly like a defense because Jamahal Hill was saying stuff about me. Jamahal was ranked No. 7 [in the light heavyweight division] and somehow jumped [to a title shot]... He wanted to speak louder than me who had the belt, so I had to stop that." [Transcripts as per the voice-over translation in the BT Sport video]
Pereira added:
"[Me potentially moving up to 205lbs to face Hill] is not so much about revenge [for Hill beating Teixeira]... When he won the championship belt, he was like, 'I'll knock the guy out.' So when he won the championship, I said, 'What about knocking me out right now?'"
Catch Alex Pereira's comments below:
Alex Pereira claims his rematch with Israel Adesanya will play out more or less the same as their first MMA fight
Alex Pereira seems convinced that his UFC 287 rematch against Israel Adesanya will play out much like their first meeting in the octagon.
Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will run it back at UFC 287 🔁🏆 https://t.co/zGDCFtUuKF
At UFC 281, 'Poatan' was minutes away from potentially losing to Adesanya on points before a series of punches fetched him a TKO win over the Nigerian-born Kiwi in the last round.
The Brazilian feels that 'The Last Stylebender' won't be able to drastically change his game for UFC 287. During the same BT Sport interview, the middleweight champion said:
"I think it's going to be pretty much the same. You know what I mean, it's too much of a short span [of time] for him to change anything to his game. I think he's on automatic mode. He's just going to go... If he tries to do something different, I don't think it's going to be too good for him."