Pounding waters, Alex Pereira in good spirits ahead of UFC light heavyweight debut: 'I felt it was the right time'

SALT LAKE CITY – Known for his stone-cold expression and serious demeanor, Alex Pereira maintained the status quo for much of his UFC 291 news conference Wednesday – but more smiles were cracked than usual.

From the moment he sat at the podium, things seemed different. Before the first question was even asked, Pereira (7-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) picked up the UFC-sponsored bottle of water in front of him and chugged it.

Was he parched or was it to prove a point? The jury is still out on that. But one thing is for certain: Pereira is enjoying life as a UFC light heavyweight.

“Everything is going according to the plan,” Pereira told MMA Junkie and other reporters through an interpreter. “Since my last fight in the locker room, we already started talking about what’s going to happen. It’s not that the organization forced me to fight (Jan) Blachowicz. We just took the fight we thought was going to be a good fight. Everything happens naturally.”

Pereira and Blachowicz (29-9-1 MMA, 12-6-1 UFC) fight in the co-main event Saturday at Delta Center. It will be Pereira’s first fight since he lost the UFC middleweight title to rival Israel Adesanya by knockout in April.

Despite a 1-1 lifetime series tie with Adesanya in MMA, Pereira is confident now was the perfect time to transition up a weight class.

“We expected this since the last fight,” Pereira said. “I told (the UFC) I needed a little bit of a break to relax a little bit and think more about the fight. It’s not that I cannot make the other weight class anymore but it feels good to just have a little break. … Everybody’s body acts differently. In my case, you can see, I felt it was the right time. I did a little too much of a break and rest so I could recover from the fight a little bit. If you see in my past fight, what happened was the way I walked to the locker room and the way I was talking, you could tell it was not that bad. I think it’s the right moment.”

The UFC light heavyweight division does not currently have a champion. After an Achilles tendon rupture sustained in a pickup basketball game in July, then-titleholder Jamahal Hill vacated the championship.

The sudden vacancy caused many fans to speculate whether or not the UFC would turn Pereira vs. Blachowicz into a title fight. Ultimately the promotion did not go that route, but Pereira said he would’ve accepted. His eyes are on the championship, after all.

“Nobody had this conversation,” Pereira said. “But at the same time, if it did happen, I had my eyes on it. I was ready. I’m 36 years old. It’s not that I have too much time to wait.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 291.