UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is open to training with heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Up next for “Poatan” is a defense of his title against Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on Oct. 5. After that, he’s ready to help Jones prepare for his upcoming heavyweight title clash with Stipe Miocic on Nov. 16.
Pereira attended UFC 306 this past Saturday in Las Vegas and said in an interview with Full Send that he’s been texting “Bones” for a while about possibly training together, and that it could happen before Jones fights Miocic at UFC 309 in New York.
“I think there’s some good time [between our fights], his fight is only in November,” Pereira said. “There’s always something coming off a fight, a small injury, so we can get some rest and then train together.”
Pereira and Jones posed for pictures inside Sphere on Saturday and the Brazilian said he felt Jones appeared to be “more athletic and leaner” compared to when he last fought at UFC 285, where he scored a quick submission victory over Cyril Gane in March 2023 to earn a vacant heavyweight title. Training together could prevent the two champions facing off one day in the octagon, and Pereira said he’s not focused on chasing that fight at the moment.
“A lot of people talk about this superfight but I think I have to make the most of this guy’s experience,” Pereira said. “He has a ton of experience, but people are talking about him maybe doing only one or two fights more, and I’m not even at heavyweight yet. I don’t know if that’s possible, but I want to at least be training with him.”
Asked who he would choose for a champion vs. champion clash next if middleweight Dricus du Plessis and heavyweights Jones are on the table, Poatan tripled down on his intention to regain his 185-pound belt.
“Dricus du Plessis is the easier fight,” Pereira said. “It’s harder to cut the weight, but as I’ve said when I moved up in weight that I needed two or three fights without this weight cut for my body to recover, and then I could do the cut again. I’ve said that after the [Jiri Prochazka rematch] and I’m still waiting for an answer. He never gives a straight answer. Everybody knows he’s scared.
“Dricus du Plessis always jokes in his answer. We can see he doesn’t want this. He has to say, ‘UFC, make this fight happen. Alex wants it, I want it, so let’s make it happen.’ It’s easier to work if he says that, but we can see from his answer that he’s scared. Assh*le [laughs].”