Mailbag: Is a UFC 313 win (or loss) sending Alex Pereira to heavyweight?

Is an Alex Pereira move to heavyweight in the making with a win (or a loss) at UFC 313? What does Justin Gaethje really get out of this rematch with Rafael Fiziev? And who has the best nickname on Saturday’s pay-per-view fight card?

All that and more in this week’s mailbag. To ask a question of your own, hit up @BenFowlkesMMA or @benfowlkes.bsky.social.

First of all, any time someone brings up the claim that Jon Jones asked for “Deontay Wilder money,” I feel obliged to shout in all caps: AS HE SHOULD. Seriously, ask yourself who is better at their respective sport, as well as a bigger star in their respective world.

MMA fans have been programmed to believe it’s absurd for any UFC fighter to think he should be paid like a top boxer. It’s not. Not at all. For the past year or so UFC CEO Dana White has been screaming at us that Jones is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. And, what, it’s absurd for him to want to be paid as much as a boxer who was never anywhere near that even at his peak? Get out of here.

But on to your actual question. If Alex Pereira beats Magomed Ankalaev and retains the 205-pound title at UFC 313 on Saturday, I think we’ll have to consider the light heavyweight division officially cleaned out. Who else is there for Pereira to fight? It’s just reruns of old matchups until some new contender emerges.

If that’s where we are come Sunday morning, then I’m all in favor of a move to heavyweight. However! If Jones is going to defend that UFC heavyweight title, it needs to be against Tom Aspinall next. After that, if Pereira wants the winner, I’m all for it. But if Jones doesn’t fight Aspinall some time this year, that’s it, the UFC has to strip him of the belt and move on. And, just saying, Aspinall vs. Pereira would be a pretty good consolation prize.

And there’s the other side of the coin for this weekend’s main event. Ankalaev is a real threat to Pereira, mostly for stylistic reasons. But even if he does become the champ, then what? I don’t think there are really that many people dying to see him do it again with Jan Blachowicz.

Unless Ankalaev completely destroys Pereira, I wouldn’t be surprised if the UFC opted for an immediate rematch. It’s either that or throw Jiri Prochazka back in there next, hoping that he can snatch the belt back and call for a Pereira trilogy (which you just know he would do).

This fight card actually features a couple people willing to lean into the word play opportunities provided by their last names. There’s Curtis “Razor” Blaydes and Francis “Fire” Marshall, so that’s fun.

You also have a guy who’s really living his own nickname in Jalin “The Tarantula” Turner, who has been known to show up to weigh-ins with a pet spider in his pocket. (I honestly hate even thinking about that.)

I think my least favorite is probably Mairon “The Legend” Santos. Just because, no, you’re not. Not yet, anyway. The thing about being a legend is that’s for other people to say about you, not for you to say about yourself.

As for the best, it’s hard to beat “Poatan,” in part because it’s one of those nicknames that is now so well-known that it can sometimes be used in place of Pereira’s actual name. Once you get there, you’re practically in “Shogun” Rua and “Rampage” Jackson territory.

Don’t you do this, Dillon. Don’t you put that evil on us.

What he actually seemed to be saying is that it would be better for profit margins — not gross revenue. That makes sense, because when the UFC stays home at the APEX, it saves a lot of money. Then again, TKO has also increased site fees, so more and more the UFC is getting paid just to show up in some of these cities before a single ticket is sold.

But Shapiro also claimed recently that, for people watching the UFC on TV, there’s really no difference between the “small but mighty APEX” and a full arena somewhere else in the world. This, of course, is straight nonsense. No one who has ever watched the UFC could possibly believe it. APEX fights feel like they might as well be exhibitions. Actual arena fights feel like genuine events.

I don’t expect those UFC Fight Night events at the APEX to ever disappear, but let’s also not pretend like we don’t all know that it’s the lowest tier of UFC programming.

You are not alone. What Justin Gaethje gets out of this is a fight and a paycheck to make his training camp worthwhile. That’s about it. Beating Rafael Fiziev, who is 0-1 since the first time he fought Gaethje (and lost), does nothing for him.

The thing about Gaethje’s career at this point is that his fights don’t really need to be for anything. His reputation as a crowd-pleasing slugger is enough. Give him a dance partner who can match that energy and we’re all satisfied. Dan Hooker was the perfect choice for that right now, but a broken hand is a broken hand.

Personally, I’m still wondering why the UFC wouldn’t take Arman Tsarukyan up on his offer to fight at a 160-pound catchweight. Would anyone really care if we got a Gaethje fight just five pounds outside of his usual weight class? Would it harm anyone’s future title hopes just because this one fight wasn’t perfect on the scales? No way. Instead we get this fight, which seems to amaze and surprise even Fiziev.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen both Jones and Michael Chandler take plenty of crap from fans about their tendencies to bend the rules of mixed martial arts. Still, you’re not wrong that sometimes in this sport the question of how bad a foul is depends on who did it and who they did it to.

For those unaware, the big homie Jed is referring to Saturday’s fight between Brunno “The Hulk” Ferreira and Armen “Superman” Petrosyan on the UFC 313 undercard.

For me, the Marvel character who leaps to mind is Squirrel Girl, since my daughters read those and leave them lying around all over the house. Maybe we put her up against Catwoman for a classic animal kingdom matchup.

Will Dana be in better shape and more angry at the AI journalists?

Any time I’ve talked to MMA fighters about this they all seem to agree that they wouldn’t want their children to pursue this as a career. Even Antonio McKee, whose son A.J. has already eclipsed his accomplishments in the cage, has said that he really, really tried to talk the kid into pursuing some other career path.

The people who have lived this life, they know how hard it is. They know how much it takes from people and how little it often gives back. Thing is, the people who have it in them to do this are rarely talked out of it. Even by people who know what they’re talking about.