Alex Pereira lobbied to fight Jon Jones at the White House following his stunning TKO victory over Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320 on Saturday.
Speaking through an interpreter, the newly crowned light heavyweight champion said he wants to move up to the heavyweight division for his next bout. He cited Jones in the nation’s capital as his ideal opponent and location:
Pereira needed just 80 seconds to avenge his March loss to Ankalaev. He caught the champ with a right cross, which allowed him to get on top. From there, Pereira laid in a series of punches and elbows before referee Herb Dean called for the bell.
Rather than challenging Jones inside the Octagon immediately after the fight ended, the Brazilian asked the T-Mobile crowd to have a moment of silence for Jones’ brother, Arthur, who died this week.
The gesture didn’t go unnoticed, with Jones thanking Pereira on social media:
Pereira improved his record to 13-3 at UFC 320 and reclaimed his spot atop the light heavyweight division. Pitting him against Jones would be a matchup worthy of the White House card.
UFC president Dana White has downplayed the likelihood of fighting on that occasion, though.
“Let me ask you, what do you think Jon would do in the next couple of months that would make me trust putting him on the White House card?” he said in August during his post-UFC 319 press conference. “… So I already said that I don’t trust him, and you’re asking me what could he do for me to trust him in the next three months? You don’t trust him! I don’t talk to him, either. I haven’t talked to him at all. If I had to make odds, it’s a billion to one that I put Jon Jones on the White House card.”
There’s still a lot of time between now and next July, when the UFC has earmarked its White House event, but White was pretty unequivocal about Jones’ status.
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