Alex Pereira will face Sergei Pavlovich in a five-round heavyweight co-main event at UFC 335 on December 12 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The card streams on Paramount+.
Dana White revealed the fight on Nina Drama’s Kick stream during UFC 332 on Saturday, and the UFC confirmed the booking on X.
White agreed to break the news there if a joint Instagram video with Nina Marie Daniele reached 25,000 comments. It hit 28,500 in nine hours.
It’s Pereira’s first fight since Ciryl Gane stopped him in the second round at the White House card in June, in his heavyweight debut. Pereira pushed for an immediate rematch, but Gane is booked against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 on November 14 at Madison Square Garden. White has said the UFC makes fights based on who deserves to be there. Pereira teased the announcement on social media, captioning a video with “It’s coming” and calling the matchup “a big challenge.”
Pavlovich arrives off a 39-second knockout of Tallison Teixeira at UFC Macau on May 30. He is ranked No. 2 in the Meta UFC heavyweight rankings, one spot ahead of Pereira at No. 3.
The UFC hasn’t called this a title eliminator. But with both men ranked in the top three, the winner will be hard to ignore when the Gane vs. Hokit champion starts looking for a challenger.
