Alex Pereira vs. Dricus du Plessis in December? Head coach of ‘Stillknocks’ welcomes callout from ‘Poatan’ following UFC 305
Alex Pereira stunned MMA fans when he hinted at a return to 185 pounds following Dricus du Plessis' win over Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. The pair clashed in the main event, with the South African securing a fourth-round submission win.
'Poatan', a former middleweight champion, is the current king of the 205-pound division. After his KO loss to Adesanya at UFC 287, Pereira announced his move to light heavyweight. He then secured a split decision victory over Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 and went on to defeat Jiri Prochazka via KO at UFC 295 to win the title.
The Brazilian was known to cut an enormous amount of weight to make 185 pounds, making his reaction to Du Plessis' win all the more surprising. Morne Visser, the head coach of 'Stillknocks', was interviewed by Submission Radio following UFC 305.
Visser was asked to share his thoughts about a clash with Pereira, and given that the Brazilian will face Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 in October. He said:
"I won't give [Pereira] the joy to come down to 185 [pounds], we'll just go up. We don't want to beat him and then he says that he had to go down and he was fatigued. We'll go up, I'm sure the UFC will be okay with that... He's fighting in October, so I really hope the UFC gives us this blessing for December. As soon as that."
Watch Dricus du Plessis' coach discuss facing Alex Pereira below (6:50):
Dricus du Plessis welcomes a 205-pound clash with Alex Pereira
Dricus du Plessis defeated Israel Adesanya in a highly anticipated UFC 305 main event clash to defend his middleweight throne for the first time.
Now it appears that former opponent of Adesanya's, Alex Pereira, is eager to face off against the 185-pound champion, as he took to Instagram to share his interest in a title fight.
'Stillknocks', similar to his coach Morne Visser, dismissed the potential fight taking place at middleweight. But the South African welcomed the challenge at 205-pounds, and said this during a recent interview with Full Send MMA:
"Alex Pereira shouldn't come down to 185 [pounds]. We saw what Izzy did to him in one round... If you got stiffened like that by Israel Adesanya you do not need to cut that weight and be in there with me. It's not going to end well... I'll come up to 205."
Watch Dricus du Plessis' interview below (0:28):