Alex Pereira is calling for a UFC White House clash with Jon Jones, and one top prospect thinks the dream fight would be a close call.
After defeating Magomed Ankalaev in the first round of their rematch to regain the light heavyweight gold, Pereira began a moment of silence for Jones’ late brother Arthur. Speaking to reporters later, Pereira admitted that his original plan was to call out “Bones” for a clash at the White House.
That was said by Jailton Almeida, who will fight Alexander Volkov on Saturday’s UFC 321 card MMAfighting that he’ll have a hard time predicting the Jones vs. Pereira outcome if it happens.
“It’s a tough fight,” Almeida told MMA Fighting about a potential fight between Jones and Pereira. “I’m Brazilian. I’m a big fan of Jon Jones, everyone knows that. It’s going to be 50-50. … ‘Poatan’ is very tough, right? You saw his last fight. He said he wasn’t well prepared the first time [against Magomed Ankalaev]and the second time it came differently. Devastating, right? He deserves the recognition in Brazil.”
The main event of UFC 321 will be a heavyweight title clash between champion Tom Aspinall and Ciryl Gane. While some believe that the winner of Almeida vs. Volkov could determine a No. 1 contender, “Malhadinho” believes if Pereira wants the title fight, he will get an edge over him.
“I’m realistic. He’s way ahead of me. We’ll see what the UFC has to offer. Maybe they’ll do Jon Jones and him and me against Tom Aspinall at the White House.” [card] also. And [the winners] next face. In theory, that would be me [next]. But if the UFC chooses him, he deserves to cross the line for me.”
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