Alex Pereira says he'd retire rather than become 'a stepping stone'

Alex Pereira says he'll walk away from fighting if he starts losing, rather than stay on as an opponent for younger fighters. The former two-division UFC champion said it on The Ariel Helwani Show on Wednesday, Oct. 21.

He did not announce a retirement. He is still booked to face Sergei Pavlovich in the UFC 335 co-main event on Dec. 12 in Las Vegas. Nothing about that fight has changed.

Talking about how long he plans to keep fighting, he told Helwani, according to Uncrowned:

"If I start losing, if things start not going too good, I don't want to be a stepping stone for nobody to be going up. I'll just be focusing on enjoying my time and enjoying my money."

He said his money and family plans are already taken care of. "We're all settled, so I have nothing to prove anymore," he said, as reported by ClutchPoints.

Why he's frustrated

Pereira, 39, is 13-4 as a pro. He gave up the light heavyweight title to move up. In his heavyweight debut, he lost to Ciryl Gane by second-round TKO on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House. That fight was for the interim belt, as reported by Cageside Press.

Tom Aspinall later gave up the heavyweight title because of eye problems, and Gane was promoted to undisputed champion. His first defence is against the unbeaten Josh Hokit at UFC 334 on Nov. 14 at Madison Square Garden. Cageside Press noted that many had expected a Pereira rematch.

Pereira said the UFC had told him he might get Gane for the belt or Hokit next, and that neither happened. "They do whatever they want is on the contract," he said. He added, according to Sherdog, that coming off a loss, Hokit "would be much, much easier for me than fighting Pavlovich."

He said a meeting with UFC executive Hunter Campbell "straightened things out." He now calls Pavlovich "a very good fight for me." He'd had him in mind since Pavlovich beat his teammate Tallison Teixeira in May.

He said he thought about going back to light heavyweight, but "the original plan was to stay at heavyweight." He also said that if it doesn't work, he won't keep fighting heavyweights "if I have a different option." Other outlets' translations are blunter. In MMA Mania's version, as quoted by Boxing News, he says: "If I lose, I'm not going to stay at heavyweight."

He had a response for critics of his chin after the Gane loss: "the fools that say I cannot take a punch, I can call them a bunch of idiots."

The last time he talked like this

This isn't the first time Pereira has talked about stopping when he's been unhappy with the UFC. In May 2025, after losing his light heavyweight title to Magomed Ankalaev, his account posted that he'd "had thoughts of not fighting anymore." He first said he'd been hacked. His coach Plinio Cruz later called it partly a miscommunication and said Pereira had acted impulsively, CBS Sports reported.

He got the rematch and stopped Ankalaev in the first round. We think Wednesday's comments fit that pattern more than they signal an exit. The stepping-stone line depended on him losing, and he sounded settled on Pavlovich once he'd met with Campbell.

What comes next

Pavlovich is 21-3 and has won three straight, most recently a 39-second stoppage of Teixeira on May 30. His last two losses came against Aspinall in November 2023 and Alexander Volkov in June 2024. The fight is scheduled for five rounds at T-Mobile Arena. ClutchPoints reported that a win could earn Pereira a shot at the Gane–Hokit winner, but the UFC hasn't said so.

Pereira was a slight favourite at -114 against Gane, according to his CageOracle page. He's won 10 of his 13 UFC fights, when the closing prices implied about seven. He won the Ankalaev rematch as a +210 underdog.

Backing him at the closing price in all 13 of his UFC fights would have returned 6.10 units, a 47% return. That's past results, not a price anyone can take today. Pavlovich has been a smaller earner, up 1.38 units over 9 tracked UFC fights. No US sportsbook has priced Pavlovich vs. Pereira yet.