Pereira vows to drop back to light heavyweight if Pavlovich defeats him at UFC 335

Alex Pereira has drawn a clear line in the sand ahead of his UFC 335 co-main event against Sergei Pavlovich on Dec. 12 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas: lose again at heavyweight and he returns to light heavyweight, the division where he was a champion.

“I wouldn’t stay at heavyweight, no,” Pereira told Connect Cast. “I would go back to light heavyweight. I think that would be the ideal thing to do.”

The Brazilian knockout artist suffered a second-round stoppage at the hands of Ciryl Gane in June, falling short of the interim heavyweight title at the UFC White House event. Despite campaigning for an immediate rematch and not receiving one, Pereira opted to remain at heavyweight for one more attempt — but he is under no illusions about the physical reality of competing against the division’s larger athletes.

“Everyone knows I’m not a big guy like these heavyweights,” he said. “So I’m not going to stay there taking a beating at that disadvantage. So I would go back to my division, where I was more comfortable. I think that would be the best thing to do.”

Pereira added that a return to 205 pounds would likely come with an immediate title shot, though he made clear he does not expect that scenario to materialise. His confidence heading into the Pavlovich fight remains high.

Pavlovich arrives at UFC 335 in strong form, riding a three-fight winning streak that includes a 39-second knockout of Tallison Teixeira — a fighter who was, at the time, training alongside Pereira. Despite the personal connection, “Poatan” is not rattled, and he has already mapped out how he expects the Russian to approach the fight.

“I think against me, maybe he might think, ‘I’m going to unleash the machine gun and knock this guy out,’” Pereira said. “I don’t know what happens, but he might unleash the machine gun, and if he can’t land his shots, he might try to wrestle me to wear me out. But I’m getting ready, I’m excited about the training and everything I’ve been doing with the team.”

For Pereira, UFC 335 is effectively a crossroads bout: a win keeps his heavyweight ambitions alive, while a loss closes the door on the experiment and sends one of the sport’s most decorated champions back to familiar ground.