According to one former two-division UFC champion, Alex Pereira is moving up to attempt a historic feat too soon.
The UFC light heavyweight king will be vacating his crown ahead of another divisional switch, having won gold at both 205 and 185 pounds.
Pereira will face Ciryl Gane at the White House on June 14, as the pair battle for an interim heavyweight title amid Tom Aspinall’s injury absence.
In the eyes of Henry Cejudo, however, ‘Poatan’ would have been best served waiting for the champ’s return.
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Henry Cejudo predicts Alex Pereira will lose to Ciryl Gane
After Pereira got his revenge on Magomed Ankalaev last October to become a two-time light heavyweight champ, he quickly outlined his desire to move up.
With the Jon Jones super-fight not coming to fruition, Pereira’s heavyweight sights have turned to the chance to secure a record third divisional title on MMA’s biggest stage.
But ‘Triple C’ has suggested that the Brazilian fan favorite sacrificed that achievement when he put pen to paper on a deal to fight Gane in Washington D.C.
“If you are going to fight for that third belt, it’s got to be the undisputed belt,” Cejudo said on his Pound 4 Pound podcast alongside Kamaru Usman. “It takes a little bit of what being a triple champ is.
“I just feel like if Pereira was to stick around at light heavyweight a little bit more, fight, undisputed right away. Right away. No more interim, none of that, he just waits and he’s granted that.
“What I’m trying to tell you is you take your chances fighting undisputed. You allow Tom’s eye to heal up… Now he’s going after two big dogs in order for him to become champion rather than just one,” he added.
“You fight two to become the first three-division champ, it changes because I don’t think he gets past Ciryl Gane. I think that weight is real.
“I think there’s so many contenders at light heavyweight for Pereira to go through… There’s [Carlos] Ulberg, who he’s never fought. Of course, he could beat him. There’s Khamzat Chimaev.”
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Why Alex Pereira’s triple UFC champ crowning won’t be the same
Pereira will no doubt be expecting to defy Cejudo’s prediction and get the job done at Gane’s expense this summer.
If he does, however, it won’t be the crowning that most envisioned for the first-ever triple champ.
No one has yet attempted that feat. The recent trend of weight switches has increased talk of one current star accomplishing it, with both Pereira and Ilia Topuria deemed the favorites to do so.
Given how long fans have waited to see a fighter attempt title wins across three divisions, the fact it could first be achieved via an interim belt is somewhat anticlimactic.
Should Pereira win the interim heavyweight title but lose to Aspinall in a unification fight, many would then call his three-division feat into question.