WATCH | Alex Pereira spars with UFC heavyweight Tai Tuivasa
UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira was sparring with heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa.
Pereira was in Sydney, Australia for a visit and while he was there he went out and trained with Tuivasa. Although the two arenāt in the same weight class, the two did have a light sparring with one another. It wasnāt much, but Pereira did look like he held his own in the spar.
Alex Pereira spars with Tai Tuivasa
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ā Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) June 7, 2024
Pereira also didnāt look that much smaller than Tuivasa which is a bit of a surprise given that Pereira used to compete at 185lbs in the UFC. But, he has since moved up to light heavyweight and has even talked about potentially going up to heavyweight.
After Alex Pereiraās knockout win over Jamahal Hill at UFC 300, he called for a fight against Tom Aspinall and to move up to heavyweight. But, UFC CEO Dana White didnāt think that was the best idea for the Brazilian.
āWhen you think about him moving up to heavyweight, youāve got [Jon] Jones. Ā Youāve got [Tom] Aspinall. Ā The list goes on and in that heavyweight division,ā White said at the UFC 300 post-fight press conference about Alex Pereira (via MMAWeekly). āThe heavyweight division is nasty. Ā I donāt know if thatās the right move for him. He looked damn good in the division heās in. Ā I think you might want to stick around there for a minute. Ā But I donāt know. Ā These are all things weāll talk about for the next 15 Tuesdays, so weāll get it forged out.ā
Alex Pereira currently doesnāt have his next fight booked but is coming off a first-round KO win over Jamahal Hill at UFC 300. The Brazilian has said Jiri Prochazka will be his next opponent, who he defeated by TKO in November of last year to win the vacant title.
Tai Tuivasa, meanwhile, is on a four-fight losing streak and is coming off a submission loss to Marcin Tybura. Also on the losing streak, he had submission losses to Alexander Volkov, Sergei Pavlovich, and Ciryl Gane. Tuivasa doesnāt have his next fight booked.
