Robert Whittaker has the welcome mat out for Alex Pereira, in case the heavyweight experiment ever wraps up.
“It would be great, I would love to welcome him back. It would be fun,” Whittaker said in an interview with Submission Radio. @DovySimuMMA posted the clip on X.
The key word there is back. Pereira isn’t at 205 right now. The Brazilian is a former two-time UFC light heavyweight champion and a former middleweight champ who now competes at heavyweight. Knockout Daily’s rankings have him at No. 6 in that division with a 13-4 record. His next fight is against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 335 on December 12. The Meta UFC rankings still had him No. 3 at light heavyweight as of September 19, so the division hasn’t exactly moved on from him either.
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Whittaker has planted his flag in the weight class Pereira left behind. The Australian sits at No. 5 at light heavyweight in our rankings with a 27-9 record. He trains out of PMA Super Martial Arts and last fought on July 11.
He already has his next opponent. Championship Rounds reported on X that Whittaker will face Bogdan Guskov at UFC Sydney on February 7. The account first called it the main event, then corrected it to the co-main about 20 minutes later. Our data lists the card as UFC Fight Night 298, headlined by St. Denis vs. Salkilld.
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That makes the Pereira talk a long-range call. Pereira has to get past Pavlovich and then decide he wants to come back down. Whittaker has to beat Guskov in front of an Australian crowd. That’s a lot of ifs hanging on one friendly sentence.
I’ll always take a fighter who answers a hypothetical straight, though. Whittaker got asked, said yes and called it fun. Plenty of guys would have spent 90 seconds saying nothing.
Pereira has plenty going on anyway. Championship Rounds also flagged a new diss track from Josh Hokit that takes shots at five fighters, and Pereira is one of them.
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Pavlovich gets the first crack at Pereira on December 12. Whittaker and Guskov go eight weeks later in Sydney.
