ALEX PEREIRA has broken his social media silence following the news that he’s no longer the UFC’s light-heavyweight champion.
UFC supremo Dana White announced early on Saturday morning that the fan favourite had VACATED his 205lbs title.
The belt, which Pereira reclaimed with a first-round stoppage of Magomed Ankalaev in their rematch last October, will be contested by former champ Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg in the main event of UFC 327 in April.
News of Pereira’s vacating of the belt sent shockwaves through the MMA world.
The Brazilian has yet to issue any sort of comment on his setting aside of the title.
But he took to his Instagram story on Saturday afternoon to share menacing photos of himself in his indigenous Pataxo face paint and headdress.
It’s not clear whether Pereira’s vacating of the 205lbs belt is confirmation that he’s left the division.
The former two-division champion has, however, hinted at a move up to heavyweight on multiple occasions over the last year.
The division is currently in limbo due to injury to champion Tom Aspinall.
The Brit was on the receiving end of a horror double eye poke in his maiden title defence against Ciryl Gane last October.
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Aspinall, 32, was diagnosed with the extremely rare Brown’s Syndrome as a result of Gane’s fingers going deep into his eyeballs.
The Atherton assassin, who spent 14 months on the sidelines waiting for a fight with Jon Jones before fighting Gane, underwent DOUBLE SURGERY earlier this month.
And it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that he’ll have to have another round of surgery on his optics.
The uncertainty surrounding Aspinall’s future has led to talk of a potential interim title being introduced.
And if the UFC want a big name to vie for the title, fan favourite Pereira is the perfect fit to be one half of the fight.
