Pereira eyes Whittaker as challenger if Izzy doesn't want immediate rematch

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RIO DE JANEIRO — Alex Pereira is already planning his next move as UFC middleweight champion.

Months removed from his thrilling fifth-round knockout victory over Israel Adesanya to capture the 185-pound championship in New York, “Poatan” said in an interview with MMA Fighting that re-entering the octagon in May would be “perfect”, but the opponent is still yet to be determined.

A fourth clash with Adesanya — two in kickboxing and one in the UFC — is the No. 1 option, Pereira said, but former champion Robert Whittaker could enter the conversation.

“I see these two guys [next],” Pereira said. “Adesanya was a dominant champion so he has the preference to be competing for the belt again, but if he doesn’t want that, it will be Whittaker. I don’t think they’ll put someone else in other than Whittaker. He already said his game doesn’t match well with Adesanya but would be a good fight with me, so I’ll be ready for both.”

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  1. I admire Pereira being willing to take the Whittaker fight when Bobby Knuckles poses some stylistic problems for him.

  2. If you’re Adesanya, it’s gotta be tempting to sit on the sidelines and hope that Whittaker, who you’ve beaten twice, manages to lift the title from Poatan and you can dodge the man who repeatedly shows up in your nightmares.

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