Alex Pereira has made it clear that his time competing in the heavyweight division depends entirely on the outcome of his next bout. The former two-division UFC champion faces Sergei Pavlovich in the co-main event of UFC 335 on December 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Weighing His Options at Heavyweight
In an interview with Connect Cast, sports.yahoo.com reported, Pereira stated that he will drop back down to 205 pounds if he loses the upcoming fight. He noted that staying at heavyweight would not be ideal under those circumstances, preferring a return to light heavyweight where he feels more comfortable.
Pereira made his heavyweight debut in June against Ciryl Gane for the vacant interim heavyweight title at UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House, where Gane won by second-round TKO. Although he pushed for an immediate rematch without success, he chose to remain in the division.
A second defeat at heavyweight would signal to him that the size disadvantage against bigger opponents is simply too great. He stated that he is not a large heavyweight and refuses to stay in the division taking beatings at a disadvantage, though he remains confident that he will beat Pavlovich and avoid that outcome.
Facing Sergei Pavlovich
Pavlovich enters the matchup on a three-fight winning streak, having defeated Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Waldo Cortes-Acosta by decision in 2025, followed by a 39-second knockout of Tallison Teixeira at a UFC Fight Night event in Macau in May. Teixeira was training with Pereira at the time.
Pavlovich’s only losses since his 2018 UFC debut came against Tom Aspinall in 2023 and Alexander Volkov in 2024. Pereira anticipates that his opponent might try to unleash a heavy volume of strikes or resort to wrestling to wear him down, but emphasized that he is thoroughly prepared with his team.
Pereira’s combat sports résumé includes winning the UFC middleweight title in 2022 by defeating Israel Adesanya and the light heavyweight title in 2023 by beating Jiri Prochazka. After losing the light heavyweight belt to Magomed Ankalaev in March 2025, he reclaimed it via a first-round knockout at UFC 320 in October 2025 before vacating the title in February 2026. Carlos Ulberg subsequently claimed the vacant belt by knocking out Prochazka at UFC 327 in April.
A victory over Pavlovich would insert Pereira right back into the heavyweight title picture and set up a marketable rematch against Gane. Conversely, a loss would steer him back to light heavyweight, where he believes an immediate title fight awaits against champion Carlos Ulberg upon Ulberg’s recovery from a torn ACL.
