After Alex Pereira’s defeat, the UFC light heavyweight division is looking a bit complicated. With the much hyped rematch against Magomed Ankalaev on the line, some interesting news has come up recently. A few days back, Ankalaev stated that ‘Poatan’ was offered to fight at the International Fight Week but he declined. Now, in a shocking turn of events, yet another UFC light heavyweight title contender refused to fight Big Ank.
With the Ilia Topuria fight now sorted, the International Fight Week will see him go one on one against Charles Oliveira. However, a few days back, the scenario was a bit different. With Belal Muhammad still the welterweight champion, the UFC had no definitive bouts for Fight Week. Thus, while Pereira turned them down, Dana White and co. reportedly approached Jiri Prochazka to take the fight. Surprisingly, he too, seemed reluctant to accept! In a recent update via Ariel Helwani, Ankalaev confirmed that both Pereira and Prochazka refused to fight him.
“All the. guys turned me down and international fight week,” said Ankalaev.
🚨 Both Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka were offered to fight Magomed Ankalaev at #UFC317 and turned it down 👀
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) May 14, 2025
(via. @arielhelwani, @sportcz) pic.twitter.com/8qQO1EHWqE
Pereira reportedly wanted more time to get himself in shape for his title rematch. However, it is unclear as to why Prochazka turned down the fight. Such news will surely cast some long shadows on the UFC light heavyweight division at the moment. However, with Pereira going on an alleged meltdown on X, which he later dismissed, Daniel Cormier suspected something fishy.
Daniel Cormier Analyzes Alex Pereira’s ‘Lie’
Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira recently shocked the world by ranting against the UFC. However, soon after, he dismissed the post as the deed of a hacker. While most UFC fans were content with the clarification, Daniel Cormier had his suspicions. Speaking on a recent episode of the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ podcast, Cormier stated that Pereira might be lying. What actually happened was the UFC asked him to fight. And when Pereira denied, Dana White and co. conveyed him that the opportunity would be presented to a different fighter. And this is where ‘Poatan’ went off.
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“Pereira is a liar. Pereira did not get hacked. Pereira might have tweeted something and then somebody called him like, ‘Yo, calm down, let’s chill.’ I don’t believe the hacked thing, bro. It was too specific,” Cormier stated.
Daniel Cormier believes Alex Pereira wasn’t hacked at all.
— Red Corner MMA (@RedCorner_MMA) May 9, 2025
"Pereira is a liar. Pereira did not get hacked. Pereira might have tweeted something and then somebody called him like, 'Yo, calm down, let's chill.' I don't believe the hacked thing, bro. It was too specific."
Cormier… pic.twitter.com/0mslgthYQi
Thus, with things looking a bit complicated, it remains to be seen how the situation pans out in the future.
Also Read: Magomed Ankalaev Claims Hacking Alex Pereira’s Social Media Amidst Latest Fiasco
