UFC Champion Alex Pereira 'Really Wants' Boxing Bout With Oleksandr Usyk

Reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has already conquered the world in two different combat sports. Now it seems he has his sights set on a third. Pereira captured the middleweight and light heavyweight kickboxing world titles in GLORY before transitioning his skills to the cage and switching sports to mixed martial arts. That quickly led to him joining the UFC, where "Poatan" has enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame, capturing undisputed UFC titles at both middleweight and light heavyweight. More news: Dricus Du Plessis Says Facing Fellow UFC Champion Would Be 'Easy Payday' Now the reigning UFC champion at 205 pounds, Pereira is planning for an upcoming title defense against Russian contender Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313 in Las Vegas on March 8. But he also revealed his ambition to conquer the world of professional boxing to add a third discipline to his glittering combat sports resume. Pereira appeared on the JAXXON Podcast alongside his coach Plinio Cruz, as he shared his thoughts on a potential switch to boxing during a conversation with former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. "That's something that he really wants," said Cruz, translating for Pereira. "But, you know, he's in a contract with the UFC. "We know (Conor) McGregor did it (when he fought Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match in 2017). I don't know how he would, but someday he would really like to do it, yeah. "He's the champ. He would like to fight the champ. So, Oleksandr Usyk. He feels like he could do really good. People talk about boxing, but boxing is one of his strongest parts. "He's the champion, he wants to fight the champ, so he will fight Oleksandr Usyk. He thinks he could go head-to-head with him. He thinks he's up there." Read more: UFC News: Daniel Cormier, Chael Sonnen To Coach 'The Ultimate Fighter' Head coach Cruz knows Pereira's capability better than anyone, and said that he thinks Pereira has the ability to hang with heavyweight's boxing elite, having seen him in action against world-ranked heavyweight boxers in the gym. "Me personally, I put him already to spar some world-class, top 10 heavyweight boxers," said Cruz. "Guys with real names, that I'm not going to mention. But he did really good. So I think he could do good." Pereira's next UFC test will come against Ankalaev on March 8, but he's already eying bigger tests, and said he'd prefer to take on heavyweight champion Jon Jones over a potential trilogy bout with former middleweight champion and longtime rival Israel Adesanya. "We have fought Adesanya four times," he told Ariel Helwani. "Jon Jones is a new challenge, and he's the champ." Michael 'Venom' Page Says He Still Has Unfinished Business at Welterweight For more MMA, head to Newsweek Sports.