UFC gentle heavyweight champion Alex Pereira did not take kindly to Joaquin Buckley’s current claims {that a} middleweight combat by no means occurred.
Alex Pereira acquired his revenge by defeating Magomed Ankalaev by TKO at UFC 320 earlier this month to regain the UFC gentle heavyweight title. Pereira avenged his solely loss at gentle heavyweight and returned to the 205-pound title.
Earlier than transferring full-time to gentle heavyweight, the mighty Pereira fought the primary few bouts of his MMA profession at middleweight. He grew to become the quickest fighter to win the UFC middleweight championship by knocking out Israel Adesanya at UFC 281.
Months earlier than he confronted Adesanya within the first of his two UFC bouts, Joaquin Buckley was reportedly provided a combat towards Pereira. Buckley accepted the combat provide, however claimed Pereira turned him down citing the brief discover.
Joaquin Buckley and Alex Pereira spar over provide to combat in 2022
In a current video uploaded to him, YouTube Buckley shared a narrative in regards to the time he virtually fought Pereira in 2022.
“He (Alex Pereira) missed the sport as a result of he was advised he wasn’t prepared in time,” Buckley stated.
“I used to be going to knock that man out.” (h/t Bloody Elbow)
Just lately Instagram Pereira appeared to reply to Buckley’s claims by screenshotting a direct message change from 2022, when he was a middleweight on the time, in response to a Story submit.
“Why did you ship me this submit?” Pereira started. “Out of the 15 folks (combatants) who ran, you have been the primary!! Now, let’s return to the top (SMILE)”
Alex Pereira shared an outdated message with Joaquin Buckley after Buckley claimed he turned down a combat with Joaquin Buckley in 2022.
“Out of the 15 individuals who ran, you have been the primary! Now return to the top of the road.” 😳 pic.twitter.com/kVWSGwblrd
— Championship Spherical (@ChampRDS) October 29, 2025
Pereira and Buckley are now not preventing at middleweight and are stars in a brand new weight class. Regardless of his current loss to Kamaru Usman at UFC Atlanta, Buckley stays one of many prime contenders within the welterweight division.
Pereira envisions the potential for transferring as much as heavyweight to combat somebody like Jon Jones, particularly after Tom Aspinall vs. Cyril Gane resulted in a no-contest. UFC CEO Dana White is not eager on the concept of Pereira transferring up, and his heavyweight ambitions might have to attend.
