With two consecutive wins over Procházka, it's safe to say the book is closed on this rivalry for a while. The question is whether Pereira wants to stay at light heavyweight and continue building his legacy there or if he wants to truly go big game hunting and become the UFC's first three-division champion.
Jon Jones has already made his case for a fight with Poatan. Bones believes it would be the biggest fight in MMA history.
It very well may be, but it's a bout that favors Jones and his grappling ability too much for Pereira to give up his belt right now. Jones still has a pending fight against Stipe Miocic that doesn't even have a date after being canceled for UFC 295.
Instead, Pereira seems to be correctly looking at Magomed Ankalaev for his next title defense.
"Magomed Ankalaev is a guy I would like to test myself against," Pereira told reporters. "A lot of people talk about that match up and say that he will submit me really quickly. I would like to shut a lot of those people up and show a lot of my ground game as well."
Ankalaev is unbeaten since losing his UFC debut in 2018. A win over Ankalaev would offer a new stylistic challenge for Pereira while giving him the opportunity to further establish himself as the world's best light heavyweight.
It's a fight that should be relatively easy to schedule, is intriguing enough to generate interest and keep Pereira active.
