![Ciryl Gane throws an illegal elbow to the back of Alex Pereira's head as Pereira tries to rise from a knockdown during their UFC event at the White House in June. Pereira, hit repeatedly at the back of the head while getting up, fell back into a dazed state and was ultimately stopped by TKO. [Getty Images]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/07/news-p.v1.20260807.a98c54768fa4406dbb27d47f35a51de7_P1.jpg)
Alex Pereira (39, Brazil) is not done with heavyweight.
His UFC heavyweight debut did not go as planned, but Pereira said he intends to keep competing in the promotion's heaviest division.
"The plan is to stay at heavyweight," he told Irish MMA outlet The Mac Life in a recent interview. "That is the mission in front of me right now. I want that belt, and I will get that opportunity."
Pereira received a direct shot at the interim heavyweight title in his first fight at the weight class — skipping the usual ranking climb — at the UFC's White House event in June. The result was a setback. No. 1-ranked Ciryl Gane dominated him on the feet with sharp footwork and distance control, finishing the fight by TKO in the second round.
The loss prompted questions about his ceiling. His ambition in moving up from middleweight through light heavyweight to heavyweight drew praise, but critics argued he would struggle to absorb the power of natural heavyweights, and some called for him to drop back down in weight.
After absorbing the defeat, Pereira has decided to stay at heavyweight. Attention now turns to who he will face next. Rising contender Josh Hawkit, ranked No. 6, has called out Pereira, who sits at No. 4, making a matchup between the two a real possibility.
![Alex Pereira poses with two championship belts draped over his shoulders. [Getty Images]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/07/news-p.v1.20260807.56d435556e1647a4ba2146772174cbe8_P1.jpg)
Pereira also said he still harbors frustration over referee Herb Dean's failure to penalize the back-of-head strikes he believes contributed to his first heavyweight loss.
After being knocked down by a punch from Gane, Pereira took multiple blows to the back of the head while on the ground. Strikes to the back of the head are illegal under the unified MMA rules, but Dean did not deduct a point for the fouls.
Pereira publicly and repeatedly criticized Dean in the immediate aftermath of the fight. Dean has maintained that while the strikes landed at the back of the skull, they did not medically constitute hits to the back of the head.
"I got hit with a jab and felt the impact. Maybe I could have recovered from that," Pereira said. "There were a lot of legal strikes, and then there were some illegal ones afterward. I think it is the referee's job to watch which strikes are legal and which are not, and to step in accordingly."
yjc@heraldcorp.com
