Alex Pereira believes heavyweight move has to happen “the right way,” shuts down rumors of Tom Aspinall fight

Alex Pereira isn’t ruling out a move up to heavyweight but says he will need to make the jump in weight the right way.

Pereira moved up to light heavyweight after losing his middleweight title in April after suffering a KO loss to Israel Adesanya. He ended up beating Jan Blachowicz in his light heavyweight debut and then scored a knockout win over Jiri Prochazka in November to become the promotion’s new light heavyweight champion.

Since becoming the champ, Alex Pereira shared a cryptic post on his Instagram which many thought hinted at him going to heavyweight to try and become a three-weight champ at UFC 300.

However, Pereira says a heavyweight move is not imminent as he has to do it the right way, and also shut down any talks of him fighting Tom Aspinall at UFC 300.

Tom Aspinall and Alex Pereira offering us breadcrumbs. pic.twitter.com/5iwNnbx5Qz

— Oscar Willis (@oscarswillis) December 23, 2023

“Well, he fought at middleweight and I had to listen to my body to go up to fight at light heavyweight, my body said I had to go up. I’m a fighter, I’ll fight anyone, I have the height and the size of a heavyweight but this is something that has to be programmed, do some work on, it’s not something I just jump in on an adventure. I want to make things in the right way, I can fight at heavyweight in the future, but I have to be well-planned, so right now my focus is on my light heavyweight reign,” Pereira said to TheMacLife about fighting Tom Aspinall at UFC 300.

Not only has Alex Pereira shut down talk of fighting Tom Aspinall at UFC 300, but he also believes Jon Jones is still the real champion. If Jones decides to vacate the belt, Pereira believes Aspinall would have to win another fight to become the undisputed champion.

“Jon Jones is the champ, he got injured. Unless something happened major like Prochazka who vacated his belt, Jon Jones is still the champ. Tom Aspinall is the interim champ. All credit to him for doing a great job, but we can’t put Jon Jones’ credit on the side. If Jon Jones says the belt is vacated right now, Tom Aspinall is the champ but he has to do a fight to win the real title,” Pereira said.

With Alex Pereira focused on his light heavyweight title, it’s uncertain when the Brazilian will return or who he will fight. Magomed Ankalaev faces Johnny Walker in January, while Jiri Prochazka takes on Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300, so one of those winners could be Pereira’s next opponent. But, one thing is for sure, Pereira won’t be fighting Aspinall his next time out.