Alex Pereira is keen on adding a few extra zeroes to his pay packet this weekend.
The reigning UFC light heavyweight champion returns to the cage at Saturday’s UFC 313 from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas where he will take on the Russian fighter Magomed Ankalaev in a five-round bout to determine the next home of the organisation’s 205-pound championship.
Pereira, who has emerged as one of the UFC’s biggest stars since debuting with the company in late 2021, is confident of extending his sequence of victories against the 19-win Ankalaev — who vowed in a social media post in recent days to “drown this man” who he described as a “dead man walking.”
And in responce, Pereira called on his foe to put his money where his mouth is.
“Since you are so confident you will win, $200,000 to the winner’s charity of choice,” read a post on Pereira’s official social media profile. “Win or lose this will help those in need. It’s in your hands.” Pereira tagged Ankalaev in the message, as well as his manager. As of now, there has been no formal response to Pereira’s challenge.
‘Poatan’ comes into the fight on the back of an October TKO win over Khalil Rountree in what was the Brazilian’s fifth successive win since his sole loss in the Octagon to Israel Adesanya in April 2023.
Ankalaev, meanwhile, is unbeaten since his only career defeat against Paul Craig in March 2018. His most recent win came opposite Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 308 in October of last year.
