Dana White reveals Alex Pereira won’t receive an immediate title shot at light heavyweight: “He’s got to beat a real guy”

Alex Pereira won’t be fighting for UFC light heavyweight gold his next time out.

After Pereira lost his middleweight title by second-round KO at UFC 287 to Israel Adesanya, he announced he would be moving up to light heavyweight.

“Many people questioned [my weight cut] but I always went there and fulfilled my obligation, but now is a great moment to move up a division,” Pereira said on his YouTube channel… “I’m moving up a division now, and that’s my decision, but I’m sure that if I stayed in this division I can could fight him immediately. Let’s see how he behaves. I’m not going up because I can’t make the weight anymore. I can make the weight at any moment.”

Immediately, he and Jamahal Hill – the current UFC champ – went back and forth and began calling each other out. It would be a highly-anticipated fight, but Dana White revealed it wouldn’t happen as he thinks Pereira needs to get a win first.

“You put him in title contention and then he has to beat someone to even be considered in title contention,” White said at the UFC Kansas City post-fight press conference (via LowKick MMA). “He’s got to move to 205 and beat a real guy, so that’s what we’re looking at right now, getting a real guy.”

As of right now, Hill does not have his first title defenses booked but the hope is he will face Jiri Prochazka once he is healthy. With that, it’s uncertain who Pereira will fight in his light heavyweight debut he will have options and will likely get a top-ranked opponent, and with one win, perhaps he fights for the title after that.

Alex Pereira (7-2) is coming off a KO loss to Adesanya back at UFC 287 after scoring a fifth-round TKO win over Adesanya at UFC 281 to win the middleweight title. To earn the title shot, the Brazilian went just 3-0 in the UFC as he scored a first-round KO win over Sean Strickland, a decision win over Bruno Silva, and a KO victory over Andreas Michaildis.

Who do you think Alex Pereira should fight in his light heavyweight debut?