Alex Pereira has put himself in UFC contractual hell by signing an eight-fight deal in March, locking himself out of lucrative boxing fights.
Pereira recently told Fred Talks Fighting that “with seven fights left in [my] UFC contract at 39, [boxing] is kind of impossible.”
I wonder why?
Make no mistake, ‘Poatan’ is a geriatric fighter, almost 40, and he didn’t expect to lose the way he did at UFC White House. MMA has a way of spitting on you when you’re down, and Ciryl Gane bashing him around the cage wasn’t exactly what Pereira had in mind for the first of his next eight fights.
He certainly didn’t help himself by being a huge sore loser, running a relentless smear campaign against the result amid Gane’s barely legal techniques, making referee Herb Dean a prime target as well. Rabid fans still boo Dean in arenas to this day.
Pavlovich? More like last ‘Pavlo-ditch’ attempt
UFC might’ve taken slight with his antics, as they’ve thrown Sergei Pavlovich at him at UFC 335 in December. Pavlovich, part Russian lab experiment, part gorilla, has 16 first-round knockouts and looks like the perfect litmus test for whether Pereira’s speed and timing really hold up at heavyweight.
But this fight spells a darker future for Pereira than some might think. What does a loss, or an unconvincing win, look like for UFC’s golden boy when he has six more fights on his contract?
A future where Pereira loses to Pavlovich and labours through six more contests before being spat out the other end is very possible. And that’s if he doesn’t retire early while still under contract, which would put him in a pickle, with the UFC’s strict anti-compete contracts.
Suddenly that eight-fight deal starts to look like a prison…
It’s worth wondering whether Pereira made that decision, or whether someone didn’t look out for his best interests: a manager who saw a lucrative opportunity and didn’t wait around; a team afraid to tell him otherwise.
Either way, UFC 335 is a do-or-die fight for Pereira. It’s stunning how unforgiving MMA really is, and how quickly revisionism can take hold. Pereira was king of the hill just a few months ago. Now, he’s about ready to be ground up by the UFC’s promotional machine. How bleak.
