Oleksandr Usyk is interested in fighting one of the UFC’s biggest stars.
Usyk retained his WBC, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles when he defeated Tyson Fury by unanimous decision this past December in Saudi Arabia. The 37-year-old plans on competing two more times before hanging up his gloves.
Daniel Dubois will defend his IBF heavyweight world title against Joseph Parker Feb. 22 in Saudi Arabia. The winner of that fight is the first part of Usyk’s retirement plan. The second part involves UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
“First, is who wins the next fight (Dubois vs. Parker) on Feb. 22,” Usyk told TNT Sports. “Next? Maybe a show fight with Alex Pereira. Maybe – why not? Alex wants to.”
Pereira defends his light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev in the UFC 313 headliner on March 8 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPNews, ESPN+).
Pereira has an extensive amateur boxing background, and boxed once as a professional in July 2017 when he finished Marcelo de Souza Cruz by TKO in Brazil.
The former two-division Glory Kickboxing champion has recently expressed interested in lacing up the gloves again. He previously accepted Jake Paul’s callout, and put his hand up when UFC CEO Dana White discussed plans of venturing into boxing.
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 313.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: ‘Show fight’ with UFC champion Alex Pereira part of Oleksandr Usyk’s two-fight retirement plan
