Dana White gives interesting response to Alex Pereira’s heavyweight request following UFC 320

UFC 320 is in the books, and Dana White has a response to a potential heavyweight move for Alex Pereira.

“Poatan” walked into T-Mobile Arena with something to prove this past Saturday. Pereira and his team insisted that he was not 100 percent during his first meeting with Magomed Ankalaev back in March. Pereira had a chance to prove it in the main event of UFC 320, and he did so in just over a minute. “Poatan” reclaimed the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship with a first-round TKO finish over Ankalaev.

Now that Pereira is back on top, he is requesting a move to the heavyweight division. During the UFC 320 post-fight press conference, White weighed in on that request (h/t MMAJunkie).

“Today, I was at work because I had a bunch of meetings and I went over to the (UFC Performance Institute) and he was over at the PI,” White said at the UFC 320 post-fight press conference. “I was like, ‘You’re the last guy I expected here today. What are you doing here?’ They were telling me, ‘We want to fight at heavyweight.’ I said, ‘Uh, how about you win tonight, and then we can talk about heavyweight.’ I don’t know. There’s still fights here in this division, but we’ll see.”

While White isn’t exactly gung-ho over the idea, he isn’t ruling it out.

“It’s not that I have any reservations about it. The guy is in a division where there’s still interesting fights,” White said. “I like the guy so much. We’ll see. We’ll have to talk about it. I just don’t see why, unless he wants to retire. Why throw him at heavyweight? (It doesn’t) make any sense other than he just wants to do it so bad, I’ll just say yes.”

Speaking to reporters after UFC 320, Pereira revealed his desire to fight future UFC Hall of Famer Jon Jones at the White House. “Poatan” was going to make the callout during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, but he instead called for a moment of silence following the passing of Jones’ brother, Arthur, who played for the Baltimore Ravens.