With an eye on Jon Jones, Alex Poatan rules out relinquishing the UFC light heavyweight belt

Poatan celebrates victory at UFC 320. Photo: UFC News / Twitter

No último sábado (4), em Las Vegas (EUA), Alex Poatan nocauteou Magomed Ankalaev rapidamente e, assim, reconquistou o cinturão meio-pesado (até 93 kg) do UFC. Em seguida, o brasileiro revelou o desejo de se aventurar no peso pesado (até 120,2 kg) para enfrentar Jon Jones no UFC Casa Branca, em junho de 2026, e já tratou de deixar claro para a companhia que seu status de campeão da categoria será mantido.

Currently, the UFC has been taking a strict stance on champions who want to compete in superfights in different weight classes. For these big fights to take place, the athletes must relinquish their belts to avoid locking their respective divisions. Therefore, for Poatan to face the American, he would have to relinquish the title he just regained without losing it in combat.

However, the Brazilian ruled out any chance of relinquishing the belt. Because he competes consistently, the veteran believes he can convince the UFC to let him face Jones at heavyweight and remain the light heavyweight champion. One thing that may favor Poatan is that, on several occasions, he has helped the company by saving events at the last minute, even while injured and lacking proper training time.

"I don't think it's necessary. Everyone knows how often I fight. So it won't be a problem," said the Brazilian at the post-UFC 320 press conference.

Poatan's next step

Alex Poatan está de olho na superluta contra Jon Jones no peso pesado do UFC. No entanto, caso siga nos meio-pesados, o brasileiro deve ter como adversário Carlos Ulberg ou Jiri Prochazka. O neozelandês é o terceiro colocado no ranking e possui uma sequência de nove vitórias. Já o tcheco é ex-campeão da categoria e se encontra no segundo lugar na tabela de classificação. O problema para ‘Denisa’ é que ele perdeu duas vezes para o renomado striker via nocaute.

It's quite true that the rivalry between the Brazilian and Magomed Ankalaev remains alive and even. However, since the Russian doesn't enjoy prestige within the UFC, he should be discarded, passed over in favor of the athletes mentioned above.