That's how he went to LHW, he lost to Adesanya, you idiot. If Alex fights Ank again, I believe he wins 3-2 (I've laid out why I think he wins this time if they fight, tho it will be tough, so I won't go in depth). Anyways, that's how he went to LHW, by losing to Izzy. He lost in a razor thin close fight vs Ankalaev, while he was with Norovirus. That's as good as it gets to go to HW, he did what he had to I'm LHW... And there's no bigger fight than Alex Pereira vs Tom Aspinall, for Tom, if Tom beats Gane. That'd be one of the biggest fights for fans, so... Yeah, since JJ said he will fight whoever is the champion, and Alex Pereira called out Tom, I'm sure it's wiser to do Alex vs Tom and the winner vs JJ, than to... Have Alex vs Ankalaev again, then they go 5 more round, Alex Pereira might win this time, then Ankalaev would want a trilogy... Which would be fair but Alex Pereira wsnts to fight JJ, so he's burning his last flame if he wins vs Ankalaev to fight in HW and get the JJ fight. That's what he said. That's what Dana said... That he is considering strongly for Alex to fight the winner of Gane vs Tom. DC said Alex wants to get the belt to call JJ out and that JJ's team gave a sign that they'd do the fight...
It can't get clear than this... Did I wish they wouldn't fight? Yeah, since I think JJ would beat Tom in a tough fight but I think he'd outlast him. I think Poatan is a riskier fight than Tom though. So if Pereira were to beat Tom and get the third belt, he would be a legend already... And if he beats Jones, then... Many people would consider him GOAT as he has a huge legacy , 3 belts win and would have beaten 8 world champions in 3 diff categories. I think Poatan when dialed in and stone face is a serious threat for JJ, as he is for Ankalaev... Poatan was the ~55/45 favourite in their first fight. I guess the odds were a good reflex of their abilities, and how I thought it'd go. So I think that a more in shape and not injured Alex Pereira makes up for the slight edge he had in the odds in their first fight and edges out a 3-2. But again, that's if the fight happens. Pereira would have no reason to be weighing 245 obs right now, saying "chama" when asked about "HW bro?", with Dana saying Pereira is definitely a strong hypothesis to fight the winner of Tom and Gane, if... A fight in HW weren't on the plans. Like, none.
I'm not saying he'd fight JJ straight away, he'd need to beat Tom firstly... If he does, that's not coming off a loss. Duh ... And would the UFC bring JJ to fight Pereira in case this happens? Absolutely. They'd see that fight as the most $ they could make, it'd likely be one of the biggest fights in the UFC. I'm not saying what I want, I don't think JJ needs to prove anything else, but he has unretired and is training for a reason. I think Dana saying he won't be back is just smokescreen otherwise Dana wouldn't have said earlier that JJ would be back... I think it's more like because he saw how the fans reacted with JJ vs Tom, fans didn't believe they'd get that fight and they didn't even want that... As soon as signs pointed to that happening, fans started saying "JJ won't fight", they raised a petition because... They don't want JJ to win that's the true, they want to have a moral victory off his retirement. So JJ will likely fight yes, but he won't make that public so he doesn't have ppl asking him about that fight even tho many other fights weren't being discussed either. It'll be announced unpredictably so the fans believe it instead of "oh it's 3 months still, JJ will make up an injury".
