Alex Pereira has put $200,000 on the line for his next fight at UFC 313.
Pereira faces Magomed Ankalaev in the headline act of UFC 313 this weekend in Las Vegas.
The Brazilian UFC champion will put his light heavyweight belt on the line for the fourth time after three incredible defences of the title in 2024.
Both men will follow a tasty co-main event at the T-Mobile Arena between Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Pereira raised the stakes of his much-anticipated 205-pound clash by issuing a $200,000 challenge to Ankalaev.
The bet is reminiscent of Conor McGregor’s controversial charity challenge to Dustin Poirier ahead of UFC 257.
“Since you are so confident you will win, $200,000 to the winners charity of choice,” Pereira wrote on X.
“Win or lose this will help those in need. It’s in your hands Ali Abdelaziz (UFC manager) Magomed Ankalaev.”
McGregor and Poirier agreed to a $500,000 charitable wager ahead of their second fight at UFC 257 in January 2021.
However, shortly after knocking him out, Poirier claimed his rival failed to follow through with his side of the bet.
“That’s a fun prediction!” Poirier wrote at the time, calling out ‘The Notorious’ for not sending the $500K.
“Conor McGregor, you also predicted a donation to my foundation and you and your team stopped responding after the fight in January.
“See you soon. July 10th Paid In Full!”
Comments from ‘The Diamond’ clearly upset McGregor, who responded to the American’s post within an instant.
“A donation, not a debt,” McGregor said. “We’ve been awaiting the plans for the money that never came. I do with all my donations.
“Know where it’s going dot for dot. Otherwise it goes walking. As is the case with a lot of these foundations, sadly.
“You took the McG over the belt shows I was right.”
Following the Irishman’s response, Poirier apologised for making the matter public and McGregor indeed made his $500K donation.
The Irishman had initially played down a trilogy bout with Poirier, but the pair did end up colliding again just six months later.
McGregor was aiming to exact revenge in the main event of UFC 264, but instead broke his leg at the very end of round one.
He was scheduled to make a return against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June, but pulled out of the bout due to an injury and hasn’t been spotted in the Octagon in nearly four years.
Speaking to talkSPORT in February, Poirier said that he would fight McGregor ‘to the death’ if they ever clashed again.
However, in a slight change of tone towards his former rival, the American recognised that McGregor is ‘special’ enough to make a UFC comeback.
“I’d love to talk down, talk trash on Conor, but if anybody can put it all together and come back this guy can,” Poirier said at the end last month.
“He’s special. He has something special, but only he knows when he looks in the mirror if he can really do it again.”
Pereira has gone from earning 68p a day as a tyre shop worker in Brazil to one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time.
He has made light work of the light heavyweight division so far, after also being crowned a champion in the middleweight rankings too.
However, several MMA fans, including UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier consider this fight with Ankalaev to be his hardest to date.
“Pereira better get home,” Cormier said last month following news that Pereira had been spotted at a Drake concert in Sydney, Australia.
“He needs to get home right now and make sure he’s locked in, because he does have the hardest fight of his title reign to this point.”
Pereira has since been gearing up for his next fight, and posted a chilling warning to Ankalaev ahead of the bout with the caption: “Ready to kill.”
