Former champion picks Alex Pereira to beat Sergei Pavlovich

The UFC 335 co-main event will feature a five-round heavyweight bout with monumental implications in the division’s title picture. Former two-division titleholder Alex Pereira faces former interim title challenger and No. 2 ranked Sergei Pavlovich at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 12.

Pavlovich will look to extend his three-fight winning streak and earn a title fight while Pereira hopes to rebound from a TKO loss to champion Ciryl Gane in his heavyweight debut. It’s a matchup former middleweight titleholder Chris Weidman considers a ‘pick’em.’

“It’s an exciting fight because I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I have no idea,” Weidman said The Deep Waters. “It’s pretty much a pick’em.”

“I’ve got to go for Pereira, man. I just feel like his back’s against the wall right now. He’s so upset and frustrated, chip on his shoulder coming off this loss. Every time he’s lost, he came back and won.

“He lost to Izzy (Israel Adesanya), goes up to 205, did his thing up there. I just think Pereira’s got that championship mindset. I’m going to say he figures it out, but man that’s a tough fight. It’s a tough fight to call.”

“I think the game changer for Pereira is calf kicks,” Weidman said. “I think the kicks. I think he could out kick him and kind of stay out of boxing range to start the fight and kind of cut down the legs of Pavlovich.”

UFC 335 is headlined by a BMF title fight between titleholder Charles Oliveiraand former two-time featherweight title challenger Diego Lopes. It will be Lopes’ lightweight debut.