Three Sport Champ?!

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Three sport champion?

Alex Pereira is back this weekend (Sat., Oct. 5, 2024) at UFC 307 for his third Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Light Heavyweight championship defense against Khalil Rountree Jr., which will go down inside Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

While “Poatan” is currently on the best run of his combat sports career and has a killer in front of him this weekend, he has another thing on his mind: boxing—more specifically, UFC CEO Dana White’s new boxing promotion coming in 2025.

“I like boxing,” Pereira told reporter Kevin Iole through an interpreter. “I’ve wanted to fight in boxing for a while. I’m actually going to release, in the next few days, video footage of me sparring the best heavyweight boxer in Brazil. It’s a few years ago, the video, but now I’ve gotten much better in the game. Dana White made the announcement, and to be honest, nothing was spoken of between us and the organization. But I feel the partnership will start with me.”

Unfortunately for Pereira, the UFC head honcho told reporters last week that he doesn’t want UFC fighters to crossover to boxing anymore and that his promotion will be completely separate.

But if there was a UFC athlete right now who could make waves in boxing, it would be Pereira because he would become a three-sport champion: mixed martial arts (MMA), kickboxing, and boxing.

Jake Paul is off the table, though.

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 307 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPNN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 307: “Pereira vs. Rountree Jr.” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 307 fight card and ESPN+ lineup click here.