Joe Rogan: Alex Pereira has tough task vs. 'huge heavyweight' Sergei Pavlovich

Farah Hannoun, MMA JunkieMon, October 5, 2026 at 1:20 AM UTC

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Joe Rogan admires Alex Pereira's persistence to become a three-weight UFC champion.

In the UFC 335 co-main event Pereira (13-4 MMA, 10-3 UFC) takes on Sergei Pavlovich (20-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC) in a five-round bout on Dec. 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Paramount+). In the headliner, Charles Oliveira (37-11 MMA, 25-11 UFC) defends his BMF title against Diego Lopes (28-8 MMA, 7-3 UFC), who makes his lightweight debut.

Pereira will get his second fight at heavyweight after getting finished by Ciryl Gane for the interim belt at UFC Freedom 250 in June. Rogan previewed the featured UFC 335 fights.

"It's a very exciting two fights," Rogan said during Saturday's UFC 332 broadcast. "I love Diego Lopes at lightweight, especially coming off that spectacular knockout of Steve Garcia on the White House lawn. Him vs. Charles Oliveira should be a barnburner.

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"'Poatan' again at heavyweight, he's determined to try to win a title at heavyweight, and the man won't go back to light heavyweight. He's like, 'I want another shot at Ciryl Gane.' he's got to go through Sergei Pavlovich to get it, and that's a tough task. Pavlovich is a huge, huge heavyweight with gigantic power and fantastic boxing."

The third matchup that was announced was Joe Pyfer (16-3 MMA, 7-1 UFC) vs. Bo Nickal (9-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC), which took the broadcast team by surprise.

"I like it – I like it a lot," Rogan said. "That's a tough task. Joe Pyfer has nuclear power. He is a big guy. Bo Nickal is a spectacular talent, and how good did he look at the White House lawn?"

This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Joe Rogan: Alex Pereira has tough task vs. 'huge heavyweight' Sergei Pavlovich

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Source: “AOL Sports”