Hall of Famer believes Alex Pereiras championship mindset helps him preva

UFC Hall of Famer Chris Weidman believes the pressure on Alex Pereira will bring out the best of him at UFC 335.

Pereira (13-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) will look to notch his first heavyweight win when he meets Sergei Pavlovich (20-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) in a five-round co-main event Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+). Pereira is the betting underdog after he was finished by Ciryl Gane in their interim title fight at UFC Freedom 250 in June. Although Weidman sees Pavlovich as a tough fight for Pereira, he pointed to his resume as the reason why he's picking him to win.

"It's an exciting fight because I don't know what's really going to happen," Weidman said on "Deep Waters." "I have no idea. 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 the shoulder coming off this loss. Every time he's lost, he came back and won.

"He lost to Izzy (Adesanya), goes up to 205, did his thing up there. Pereira's got that championship mindset. I'm going to say he figures it out, but man it's a tough fight. It's a tough fight to call. ... I think the game changer for Pereira is calf kicks. 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."

Prior to the Gane loss, Pereira, also a former middleweight champm had regained his UFC light heavyweight title by stopping Magomed Ankalaev in just 80 seconds at UFC 320, but he opted to vacate his belt for a chance to claim a title in a third division.

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Hall of Famer believes Alex Pereira's 'championship mindset' helps him prevail at UFC 335