Alex Pereira Says a Loss to Pavlovich Means He's Done at Heavyweight

Alex Pereira has drawn a hard line under his heavyweight experiment: win at UFC 335 on Dec. 12, or go home to 205 pounds. Speaking to Connect Cast, the former two-division champ said that a loss to Sergei Pavlovich in the T-Mobile Arena co-main event would send him straight back to light heavyweight, where he sits at #3 with a 13-4 record and 11 knockouts.

It's a reasonable stance given how his first trip up the scale went. Pereira got stopped by Ciryl Gane in the second round in June, falling short of the interim heavyweight belt at the UFC's White House card. He campaigned for an immediate rematch, didn't get it, and decided to stick around and try again anyway.

The Size Problem He Can't Ignore

Pereira isn't pretending the physics work in his favor. He said flat out that he's not a naturally big heavyweight, and that he's not interested in hanging around the division to absorb punishment against larger men. Another loss, by his logic, is confirmation that the weight class is a bad fit. Back to light heavyweight, where he's comfortable, where he's a former champion, and where he says he'd walk straight into a title shot.

That confidence isn't entirely misplaced. Before his heavyweight detour, Pereira was one of the most feared finishers in the UFC, and the light heavyweight picture still orbits around him. A return would be big business whether or not it's framed as a title eliminator.

What Pavlovich Brings

The thing standing between Pereira and that fallback plan is a genuine problem. Pavlovich arrives on a three-fight win streak, the most recent a 39-second demolition of Tallison Teixeira, a fighter who, awkwardly, was training alongside Pereira at the time. The Russian is pure violence early, and Pereira knows it.

Pereira expects Pavlovich to open up with everything, as he put it, unload the machine gun and try to put him away fast. If that doesn't land, he figures Pavlovich leans on wrestling to drain him over the rounds. Pereira says he's prepared for both and is enjoying the camp. He also insists none of the contingency planning will matter, because he's confident he wins. We'll find out in Las Vegas on Dec. 12.