Michael Bisping Warns Sergei Pavlovich Could End Alex Pereira at UFC 335
UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping believes Alex Pereira's flat-footed style could lead to his retirement at UFC 335.
Michael Bisping believes UFC 335 could be the last time we see Alex Pereira inside the octagon.
The UFC Hall of Famer raised the alarm in a recent YouTube video, warning that Pereira's heavyweight return against Sergei Pavlovich on December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas carries serious career risk. The fight is scheduled as a five-round co-main event, sitting underneath the BMF title bout between Charles Oliveira and Diego Lopes.
Bisping's concern centers on Pereira's movement, or lack of it. He described the former two-division champion as "flat-footed" and argued that the style that worked at middleweight and light heavyweight translates differently against natural heavyweights. Per Bisping, heavyweights can absorb and deliver bigger shots because they were built that size, not because they packed on extra weight.
Pereira, 39, is coming off a second-round TKO loss to Ciryl Gane in June, his first heavyweight bout. He claimed illegal strikes contributed to the finish. A loss to Pavlovich would leave him nowhere near a title shot, and Bisping questioned whether Pereira would want to grind through two or three wins as a heavyweight contender at this stage of his career.
"He's made a fortune," Bisping said, suggesting that Pereira has little financial incentive to stick around if things go wrong.
Pavlovich brings serious power to the matchup. He has seven knockout finishes in nine UFC wins, including a 39-second demolition of Tallison Teixeira in May. He has opened as the betting favorite. Pereira responded on Instagram with an AI-generated video of himself shooting an arrow at Pavlovich, captioned "See you soon." Pavlovich replied simply: "Back in action soon."
I respect Bisping's eye for the sport, but I think he is overcomplicating this. Alex Pereira is flat-footed because he does not need to be anything else. The man stands in front of you and dares you to trade. That is not a weakness. That is a feature. It just happens to be a feature that gets a lot more dangerous when the guy across from you hits as hard as Pavlovich.
The Gane loss was real, no question. But Pereira has never been the type to stick around if the fire goes out, and I do not think that fire is gone yet. He responded to a loss the way killers do: by signing up for another fight against another terrifying puncher.
Pavlovich is the right kind of dangerous for this to be a genuine coin flip. If Pereira gets caught early, yeah, maybe that is it. But if he lands first? This could be the knockout of the year. I would not bet against a guy who has made a career out of proving people wrong.
