the return of Alex Poatán to the UFC octagon may be closer than it seems. This Tuesday (31) the Brazilian fighter sent an enigmatic message to his fans in Sydney, Australia, generating a lot of speculation about an appearance in the UFC 312, scheduled to take place on February 8th.
The message was posted on Poatan's official Instagram account. The short clip, captioned 'See you soon, Sydney, Australia! CALL.' shows the light heavyweight champion (up to 93kg) hitting the punching bag before telling fans in Portuguese:
See too
“Happy New Year Australia, I miss you, hope you’re all well. See you in February, Flame!” (see below)
Named fighter of the year, Poatan stepped into last-minute action twice in 2024, defending his title three times with major knockout victories. Since defeating Khalil rountree No. UFC 307, in October, he has been taking advantage of the break to travel with his family, train and fulfill professional commitments. After the cryptic message, many fans have speculated that he may join Dricus Du Plessis e Sean Strickland on the main card do UFC 312 in Sydney.
What does Dricus Du Plessis think?
Dricus du Plessis holds the UFC middleweight title. Photo: Reproduction/Instagram/@ufceurope
While he may not be coming for a fight of his own this time around, Poatan may be scouting a future opponent. As a former middleweight champion (83,9 lbs.), it seemed like his run in the division was over after he lost his belt and moved up to light heavyweight. However, since Dricus Du Plessis won the belt, he has been eyeing a major comeback. After the South African defeated Israel adesanya In July, the Brazilian teased a potential fight, saying: 'I'm focused on my next fight and I'm going in prepared, but you never know what can happen.'
For his part, Du Plessis agreed with the idea, but would prefer to move up in weight and fight for a second world title. After defeating Adesanya, the South African revealed that he prefers his opponents not to have excuses about the division.
“I honestly don’t think Alex Pereira should drop to 185 [middleweight]. If he wants to, great, perfect. But then we’ll hear the excuses. I saw Izzy beat that guy in the first round. I felt Izzy’s punching power tonight. Izzy has great timing, he’s fast, he’s long and he has great combinations, but I felt the power. If Izzy stiffens you like that, you don’t want to be in there with me, especially when you have to go in there with the excuse, ‘Oh, I lost a lot of weight.’ That’s going to happen. Everyone’s going to say that,” Du Plessis said.
Read More about: Alex Poatán, Dricus Du Plessis, Israel adesanya
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