Alex Pereira distances himself from title fight with Magomed Ankalaev: ‘He’s going to have to wait a little bit’

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira says he will be rematching Jiri Prochazka next time out.

Pereira is coming off his first title defense of his light heavyweight title as he knocked out Jamahal Hill in the first round at UFC 300. After the win, Magomed Ankalaev called out Alex Pereira and many assumed that would be the next fight.

However, speaking at a media scrum at UFC 301, Alex Pereira revealed it will be Prochakza who will be next for him.

“Breaking news,” Pereira said through an interpreter during a UFC 301 media scrum (h/t MMA Fighting). “I think if I wait for (Ankalaev vs. Prochazka), it will take too long. I want to fight earlier than that. And I think, as far as we know, most likely the next in line is going to be Prochazka. Ankalaev is going to have to wait a little bit. I know Jamahal Hill’s been talking some trash, but is also going to have to wait a little longer. I think Prochazka’s the next one.”

According to Pereira, he says Prochazka over Ankalaev comes down to him wanting to fight ASAP as Ankalaev was calling for the bout to happen in Abu Dhabi in October.

“We told them when we want to fight,” Pereira said. “Nothing about nobody yet – we don’t know. But they said due to the time frame, most likely it’s going to be Prochazka. But anyone out there that wants to fight, we’ll go with it.”

Alex Pereira expecting a different Jiri Prochazka

Alex Pereira fought Jiri Prochazka at UFC 295 in November in Madison Square Garden as he scored a second-round knockout win to win the vacant title.

Although Pereira fought Prochazka not even a full year ago, he is expecting it to be a much different version of the Czech native.

“I don’t think he will show up too much of a different fighter because compared to my evolution that I’ve had in just a few MMA fights, he has over 20 fights,” Pereira said. “He’s been fighting for a long time. I think for every fighter, you get to that point that you start evolving less due to the mileage that you have in this game due to the amount of fights they have and experience. So I think I’m going to evolve more from the previous fight than he does.”

To earn the title shot, Prochazka scored a knockout win over Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300.