Alex Pereira Will Face Sergei Pavlovich in Five-Round UFC 335 Co-Main Event
Dana White has announced Alex Pereira's next fight: a five-round heavyweight co-main event against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335, after Pereira missed out on a rematch with Ciryl Gane.
UFC 335 has its co-main event. Alex Pereira, who has been pushing for a rematch with heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane, will instead face Sergei Pavlovich over five rounds, according to Yahoo Sports reports on Dana White's announcement.
What we know
The sources confirm the matchup and its five-round distance, and the report indicates Pereira is staying at heavyweight. The coverage available does not give a date, venue or main event for UFC 335, so those details are still to be confirmed.
Pereira lost to Gane at UFC Freedom 250 in June in a fight that Heavy describes as ending controversially. He has spent months asking for a rematch.
Why there is no Gane rematch
Gane's next fight is already set. He will make his first official title defense against Josh Hokit in the main event of UFC 334 on November 14 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Gane was promoted to undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt.
White explained the choice to reporters in Salt Lake City ahead of UFC 332. "We make fights based on who's the best in the world, who deserves to be there, and he's coming off a loss right now against Ciryl Gane — this is the fight to make," he said of the decision to pick Hokit over Pereira.
White also said a rematch was not an obvious call. "It wasn't like, 'Holy (expletive) that was a knockout,' and the fans are demanding a rematch," he said, referring to the first Gane-Pereira fight.
Hokit is 4-0 in the UFC. Heavy notes that he is popular on social media and that other contenders, including Alexander Volkov, could also have argued for the shot.
Pavlovich and the rest of the heavyweight picture
Pavlovich was already being talked about this week. Paulo Costa, according to a NY Fights blurb, offered to fight Pavlovich at heavyweight within six weeks as a way to finish his UFC contract. The sources do not say whether the UFC responded, and Pavlovich's fight with Pereira appears to be a separate booking.
Elsewhere on the UFC 335 radar, Sherdog reports that Vitor Petrino is calling out Curtis Blaydes for the card. That fight has not been confirmed in the sources provided.
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What happens next
Watch for the UFC to confirm the UFC 335 date, location and main event, as none appear in the current reports. UFC 334 comes first, with Gane defending against Hokit on November 14 in New York. How Pereira fares against Pavlovich will show whether he can work his way back into the title picture after the Gane loss.
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