After Jake Paulo defeated Mike Perry, the first name he put on the microphone was his next test, Mike Tyson.
This was not a surprise. Paul has repeatedly expressed interest in certain matchups over the years. Tyson is one of them. Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz (again) are others.
But a new name came out of his mouth on Saturday at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, when he called out the UFC light heavyweight champion. Alexandre Pereira.
“I want everybody,” Paul said at a post-fight press conference. “I love this sport. He tweeted about wanting to get into boxing. We FaceTimed him right there in the ring. I said, ‘Hey, can you get out of your contract?’ If he can get out of the contract, then we will execute it. When I asked him this, he paused. He looked at his manager (Ed Soares). These guys are not their own bosses. I want all the smoke.
While potential showdowns always get combat sports communities buzzing, the likelihood of the fight actually happening is low, Paul admitted.
Pereira still has a contract with the UFC, an organization that has shown no interest in co-promotion of any kind.
“Ultimately, will Dana (White) let him out?” Paul said. “It will be a very big risk if I manage to embarrass your number 1 fighter now. But I want all the smoke. I want all the MMA guys. I beat them all. And who’s next? He is the king now of the UFC. I want him. I want to decapitate him and dethrone him.”
Paul’s plea did not fall on deaf ears. He shared a FaceTime with Pereira and manager Ed Soares in the minutes following the fight. A video posted on Sunday by Pereira shows Paul asking Pereira to fight, to which Pereira responded: ‘Let’s go’.” But even so, the contractual issue is recognized by Paul.
Taking Paul out of the picture, Pereira recently publicly expressed an interest in boxing following social media persuasion from Anthony Joshua.
“Just to be clear, it was Anthony Joshua who said Pereira should enter the boxing ring,” Most Valuable Promotions representative Nakisa Bidarian said at the same press conference on Saturday. “Pereira said, ‘I’m honored. I would love. Who should I fight? When Jake saw this, he said, ‘Hey, he should fight me.’ And we said, ‘Well, he signed with the UFC.’ And that was the basis of this discussion.”
Paul will fight Mike Tyson, 58 years old on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. The fight was initially scheduled for Saturday, but was postponed due to a medical issue with Tyson.
Pereira currently has no fights on record. He most recently competed in UFC 303 in June, when he defeated Jiri Prochazka for the second time.
For more information on the card, visit the MMA Junkie events hub to Paulo x Perry.
