Alex Pereira Open to Quick Turnaround at UFC 301 After Title Defense at UFC 300

While the lineup for UFC 300 is nearly complete, the promotion’s return to Rio de Janeiro is currently in limbo with the availability of several top Brazilian stars in question.

UFC 301 is scheduled to take place on May 4 at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro and is currently without a headliner. However, Alex Pereira, who is slated to face Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 main event, would be willing to make the 21-day turnaround to compete in his home country.

“We were talking with the UFC to make this fight in Brazil,” Pereira said through an interpreter on YouTube. “Then they came up with the idea to bring it a little earlier and make it on UFC 300, which for me is a good thing because I’ve already been training hard. The fight being before what was expected makes it even better for me. I’m in good shape, I’ve been training hard, and I’m excited for the fight.”

It’s not unprecedented for Pereira, who has made quick turnarounds during his kickboxing career.

“I always [said] that I want to defend the belt hopefully in a very fast pace in a row, two times,” Pereira said. “Now this would be the opportunity, with the cards being so close to each other, for me to be able to defend at UFC 300 and maybe in Rio. That is a very big possibility because if I don’t get hurt, I did this before in kickboxing.”

Meanwhile, Paulo Costa, who dropped a unanimous decision to Robert Whittaker in the UFC 298 co-headliner this past Saturday, seemed hopeful to return to action in the near future. That makes his participation on the UFC 301 bill a possibility. However, “Borrachinha” did not address the card directly.

“After 18 months I’m definitely back,” Costa wrote on Instagram. “See [you] very soon.”

Finally, Sherdog contacted Charles Oliveira’s coach, Diego Lima, regarding his fighter’s interest in competing at UFC 301. Oliveira is currently slated to meet Arman Tsarukyan in a five-round, lightweight title eliminator at UFC 300.

"Actually we haven’t even discussed that with the UFC after ‘Poatan’ was announced for UFC 300,” Lima said. “The UFC always made it clear to us that Charles was very important to UFC 300, so we haven’t even considered that.”

As of now, the biggest Brazilian star expected to compete at UFC 301 is reigning flyweight king Alexandre Pantoja, who recently indicated that his next title defense would come in Rio de Janeiro. Pantoja’s opponent, however, is currently unclear.