UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has turned to a fellow mixed martial arts superstar for career advice, and it's already causing excitement among fans.
Not content with dominating not one but two different combat sports, UFC champion and No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighter Alex “Poitan” Pereira is now looking to dominate a third sport: boxing.
Alex Pereira's manager teases 'Poitan's' next MMA opponent
After his second-round knockout of Jiri Prochazka at UFC 303, many in the MMA world predicted that light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira would face Russian challenger Magomed Ankalaev.
However, there is potential for confusion after Pereira's manager suggested in a social media post earlier this week that the next title shot would go to Polish warrior Jan Blachowicz.
But as speculation continues over Poitan's next opponent, Pereira himself is already eyeing a big-money move to boxing after a surprising revelation from former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Alex Pereira asks boxing superstar Anthony Joshua for 'career advice'
Not only is Anthony Joshua a boxing superstar, he's also an avid mixed martial arts fan and, as a former heavyweight champion, a playable character in previous UFC video game titles.
Joshua has hinted on social media that he's looking forward to seeing Alex Pereira hang up the smaller UFC gloves and enter a boxing ring.
“Alex Pereira should make his boxing debut one day,” he wrote on social media, with Pereira himself responding with his own request a few hours later.
“I'm honored that you think so. It's something I've always dreamed of, but I'm 37 and I can't make a career out of this. Who would you recommend I fight?”
Interestingly, Alex Pereira already has a winning record in professional boxing, fighting Marcelo de Souza Cruz in Brazil in June 2017. That bout ended in a TKO victory for Poitan.
You can see a copy of the home video of Pereira's only boxing match below.
Naturally, it didn't take long for the aforementioned Magomed Ankalaev to chime in, and it's safe to say the burgeoning challenger wasn't happy about missing out on a chance to face Pereira in the Octagon.
“Alex Pereira [is] Another UFC champion [who] “I want to turn to boxing because I know I will lose my belt next,” the first message read.
“Me versus you, I'll knock you out [in] “I won the first round. I don't need boxing. I need the biggest challenge of my life,” Ankalaev said, directly tagging both Dana White and Mick Maynard in the post.
Ankalaev then spoke to Joshua himself, claiming the boxing star was just “looking to make some easy money again”, before suggesting he make a move into mixed martial arts himself: “Why don't you come to UFC and do some real fighting?”
This was referring to Joshua's last bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, which ended in dramatic fashion with the British superstar knocking out “The Predator” with a brutal overhand right in the second round.
Anthony Joshua will return to fight against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September.
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