Alex Pereira reacts after booking fight with Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291: “I was waiting for him”

Alex Pereira has given his reaction to the news that he’ll be locking horns with Jan Blachowicz at UFC 291 on July 29.

Last night, UFC president Dana White announced a wave of major fights that will be coming up this summer. UFC 291 certainly made the biggest splash as it was revealed that Justin Gaethje will meet Dustin Poirier once again in the main event for the vacant BMF title. In addition to that, though, we also got news of Alex Pereira’s official debut at light heavyweight.

When he makes the move up to 205 pounds, he’ll do so by taking on former champion Jan Blachowicz. The master of Polish Power hasn’t been seen since UFC 282 when he fought to a split draw against Magomed Ankalaev.

Pereira, who lost his UFC middleweight title to Israel Adesanya earlier this year, had the following to say on the match-up.

“He is a dangerous guy, an experienced guy. A guy we know, because of my training partner Glover Teixeira. I’m sure, training hard and together with Glover, he will pass me a lot of stuff for sure like he is always doing.”

“Everybody knows Blachowicz is a dangerous guy, an all-rounder, but I think it’s a good first fight for me. When I say my first fight, some people will think, oh, then it’s an easy opponent. No. All of you know my story. I was middleweight champ. So, for sure, they wanted to give me one of the top 5 ranked.”

Pereira is ready for Blachowicz

“For me it wasn’t a surprise – we were negotiating a while. I was waiting for him. So that’s it. I’m happy about the fight. Now it’s time to focus on my training and continuing with the work I am doing.”

Are you excited about Alex Pereira vs Jan Blachowicz? Let us know in the comments, BJPENN Nation!