Alex Pereira came out of UFC 320 with the light heavyweight title back around his waist and a fresh injury.
Overall, it was a great night in Las Vegas for Pereira as he needed just 80 seconds to defeat Magomed Ankalaev by knockout, avenging a loss from UFC 313 this past March and snatching the championship belt back from his rival. However, “Poatan” revealed Friday that he hurt his foot during the brief encounter and fans may have to wait a considerable amount of time for his next fight.
“I did an
X-Ray in Las Vegas and an MRI here and we have a fracture on my foot, but I still don’t know what will happen, or how long it will take for me to recover,” Pereira said at a Q&A in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ahead of Saturday’s UFC Rio event. “I think it’s good to focus on this White House [date], it’s something that interests me. I think I’ll focus on this.”
The UFC White House event is tentatively set for June 14, at least according to a recent announcement from President Donald Trump (UFC CEO Dana White is yet to confirm the date). Should Pereira be available for that historic card, a number of options await him, including a possible legends matchup with Jon Jones or a move up to heavyweight to face the champion of that division, currently Tom Aspinall.
Asked about Jones specifically, Pereira declined to commit to any opponent.
“I don’t know who’s next,” Pereira said. “I’m focused on this fight.”
Pereira is no stranger to injury talk, with rumors circulating after his previous loss to Ankalaev that Pereira had dealt with a virus and a broken hand in that fight (Pereira did not confirm those specific issues, but he has publicly alluded to problems affecting his UFC 320 performance).
Now, it’s Ankalaev’s team going to bat for their fighter, sharing news that the now-former champion suffered a broken rib before the rematch. Pereira says he was unaware of any injury to Ankalaev and believes most of the damage Ankalaev has suffered recently is from their second fight.
“I can’t know, but if it was already injured, it hurt it even more [with the elbows],” Pereira said. “You can’t give excuses. I had a thousand excuses to say, but waited to say when we were about to fight again. They’re already giving away [excuses] to maybe take away my merits, I don’t know.”
After knocking Ankalaev down in the fight, Pereira specifically targeted Ankalaev’s midsection with downward elbows en route to the first-round stoppage.
If it wasn’t part of a specific strategy, it was certainly a technique Pereira enjoyed utilizing.
“It was a great sensation,” Pereira said. “We train hard for that. We want to be in there and give our best, be the best. I landed a clean punch before the elbows and he came grabbing my legs. There was an opening and my elbow landed clean. When I landed the first one and saw blood, I started hitting and the referee stopped it. But I think it could have gone a little longer because I promised to slap his face and I couldn’t do that.”
Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.
