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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
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Alex Pereira addresses speculation of UFC 300 fight vs. Tom Aspinall, would only move up the ‘right way’

UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira claims there was no significant meaning behind his cryptic, viral social media post that was dissected by the MMA world.

Pereira (9-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC), a former middleweight titleholder, posted “30 + 300 = 3,” which led many to speculate that he could be fighting at the historic UFC 300 event on April 13 in Las Vegas and potentially for a third UFC title at heavyweight.

According to Pereira, the numbers came to him in a dream, and he didn’t know how to interpret them, so he decided to share it with his followers to see if additional sense could be made of it.

“I had a dream – it was 30 plus 300 is equal to three, and I got confused on all those numbers,” Pereira told TheMacLife. “I tossed it on there to see if people could help figure out the equation. Like the other day I had a dream about some numbers, and I played a raffle in Brazil and won a motorcycle. Then two months later, it was actually real. I had another one, and I put some more numbers and won another motorcycle. So I’m like, ‘You know what? Post this for the fans and see if they can help figure it out.’ I had 30 plus 300 is equal to three. We’re all trying to figure it out too.”

Pereira, 36, played coy when asked if it could mean a jump to heavyweight for a matchup with interim titleholder Tom Aspinall (14-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC). However, he did leave the door open to switching weight classes again down the line.

If the Brazilian was able to change weight classes, though, it’s not something he would be keen to do on a whim. Pereira thinks his body would need adequate time to properly adjust to face some of the biggest men on the UFC roster.

“I fought at middleweight, and I had to reset my body to go up to fighting at light heavyweight,” Pereira said. “I’m a fighter. I’ll fight anybody, anywhere. I have the height and the size of a heavyweight, but this is a thing that’s got to be programmed, put some work in. It’s not just something I jump in on. I want to make things the right way. I can definitely fight at heavyweight, maybe some day in the future. But it’s got to be something that’s well planned. So right now I’m focused on my light heavyweight reign.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.

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