Mark Zuckerberg ‘would love to see’ Dricus du Plessis fight Alex Pereira
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken to social media to say he ‘would love to see’ Dricus du Plessis defend his belt against Alex Pereira.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken to social media to write that he ‘would love to see’ South Africa’s UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis defend his belt against Brazil’s Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira.
Du Plessis made a successful first defence of his title at UFC 305 against Nigeria-born Israel Adesanya in Perth on Sunday.
Shortly after the fight, Pereira took to Instagram to post: “Vou descer para 84kg mais uma vez” (translation: Coming down to 185 one more time).
The 84kg / 185 pounds is in reference to the weight limit for UFC middleweight fighters.
Zuckerberg, the world’s fourth-richest man at age 40, replied to the post with “Would love to see it!”.
Zuckerberg and Pereira have somethings of a ‘bromance’ going at present and have broken the internet in recent weeks.
Alex Pereira is the current light heavyweight champion
Pereira, 37, is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxer.
He currently competes in the light heavyweight division in the UFC where is he the champion. He is a former UFC middleweight champion.
As Du Plessis was celebrating in the octagon, Pereira began plotting to win back the belt he previously claimed by knocking out Adesanya at UFC 281 in November 2022.
Pereira then lost the belt in a rematch against Adesanya, before moving up to light heavyweight (205 pounds) and becoming a two-weight UFC champion in record time.
Predictably, MMA fans went into meltdown after seeing Pereira’s social media post.
Alex Pereira is coming off a win over former UFC champion Jiri Prochazka due to strikes in the second round of their main event at UFC 303.
UFC boss Dana White has already announced who Pereira will face next.
The UFC returns to Salt Lake City on October 5 with Pereira set to headline UFC 307 in a surprise light heavyweight title defence against Khalil Rountree Jr.
The news came as a surprise to many fans as Rountree Jr isn’t currently ranked in the top five at 205 pounds.
White is yet to comment on Pereira’s plan to drop down in weight.
Pereira will need to get by Rountree Jr before starting the process of cutting weight if he is serious about his bid to become a simultaneous two-division champion by beating Du Plessis early in 2025.
Fight at UFC 310?
In something of a twist, according to Dricus Du Plessis’s head coach Morne Visser, that possible clash between ‘Poatan’ and ‘Stillknocks’ could be closer than fans realise.
As Visser explained to Submission Radio in the immediate aftermath of the UFC 305 title win, the pair of superstars could fight before the end of 2024 – albeit on one condition.
“No, I won’t give him the joy to go down to 185; we’ll just go up… He [DDP] doesn’t want to beat him [at 185 because] he’ll say that we’ve gone down, he was fatigued and whatever so no, we’ll go up [instead].
“I’m sure that the UFC will be okay with it, if that’s what he’s said, [and] I know Dricus is game, so we’ll go up – we won’t wait for him to come down.”
Visser sees a potential path to a second belt coming into view as soon as December’s UFC 310 card in Las Vegas.
“He’s fighting in October, so I really hope that the UFC gives us this blessing for December.”
“We were criticised a few times for Dricus saying no [to fights] because of injuries in the past, this fight was supposed to happen earlier… Don’t ask me what the gameplan will be for Alex but if it’s December, we’ll be ready.”
Watch this space!