UFC 321 fighter says Alex Pereira won’t make heavyweight move permanent

One key fighter on the UFC 321 card doesn’t believe Alex Pereira would stick around at heavyweight for more than a super fight.

Pereira has publicly expressed interest in a clash with Jon Jones on the UFC White House card. “Poatan” has even said he’d rather fight “Bones” than the winner of the heavyweight title bout between Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane. In the past, Jones has been receptive to the idea of fighting Pereira.

During a UFC 321 media day session, Jailton Almeida shared his stance on Pereira’s desire to fight Jones. He is not expecting a permanent heavyweight move for Pereira (h/t MMAJunkie).

“I think the talk about him and Jon Jones is great. A superfight between the two would be a fantastic thing for them, for us as fans, and for the UFC,” Almeida said. “But the division has been in such turmoil the last few months, like let him do a superfight. If he eventually wants to come to the division, fine, but I think he’s more looking towards something big like that superfight and not necessarily being part of the division.”

Almeida has a big heavyweight fight on Saturday. He will collide with Alexander Volkov and if the winner can impress, then a title opportunity against the winner of Aspinall vs. Gane may loom. Volkov’s most recent opponent was Gane, and Almeida believes his UFC 321 foe should’ve been awarded the win on that night.

“I know that it’s a different thing to watch a fight judging it than watching it just as a casual fan or just as someone who likes fights, but after watching the fight, I really thought that Volkov won,” Almeida said.

BJPenn.com will have you covered with live UFC 321 results on Saturday. Peep the homepage for video highlights and pro MMA fighter reactions throughout the night.