Former UFC champion Alex Pereira has been told to avoid a fight against Magomed Ankalaev in his move up to the light-heavyweight division.
Pereira, 35, announced he will move up to 205lb after losing his middleweight belt when Israel Adesanya knocked him out in their UFC 287 rematch earlier this month. The Brazilian weighs 230lb outside of training camp and has to cut a huge amount of weight to reach the middleweight limit, but he will now debut at light-heavyweight for his next fight.
UFC legend Daniel Cormier has advised Pereira to avoid a fight against former title challenger Ankalaev because of the Dagestani's wrestling ability. Ankalev is unbeaten in his past 10 fights and narrowly missed out on the vacant light-heavyweight belt when he fought to a split draw against Jan Blachowicz last December.