Alex Pereira Faces Sergei Pavlovich in Five-Round UFC 335 Co-Main
Alex Pereira will stay at heavyweight and meet Sergei Pavlovich in a five-round co-main event at UFC 335.
Dana White booked the fight Saturday night from a broadcast table inside the arena, with streamer Nina Drama sitting beside him. UFC 335 is set for Saturday, December 12, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“We talking about UFC 335, Saturday, December 12th, from the T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas,” White said. “So, his fight will actually be the co-main event, but it will be five rounds in the co-main event.”
He then handed her the line and took it back.
“You wanted this, you wanted this, you announce it,” White said. “You want me to do it? It’s five rounds in the co-main event, Alex Pereira, he will be taking on Sergey Pavlovich. Who’s coming off a 39-second win against Talison Teixeira.”
The UFC has not named a main event for the card. Pereira versus Pavlovich is the first confirmed fight, and it will be scheduled for five rounds even though it sits in the co-main slot.
Pereira enters at 13-4. The 39-year-old former middleweight and light heavyweight champion vacated the 205-pound title earlier this year to chase a third UFC belt.
That first heavyweight assignment did not go his way. Ciryl Gane stopped him by TKO at 1:27 of the second round on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C., in a bout for the interim heavyweight title.
Gane has since been elevated to undisputed champion after Tom Aspinall vacated the belt because of ongoing eye issues. Gane is scheduled to defend against Josh Hokit in November, which leaves Pereira working back into the picture rather than walking into an immediate rematch.
Pavlovich is 21-3 and has won three straight. The Russian stopped Tallison Teixeira in 39 seconds on May 30 in Macau, the finish White cited at the table.
That run also includes wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Pavlovich is 9-3 in the UFC, with seven knockouts, and he remains one of the division’s fastest finishers.
He last fought for a title in November 2023, when Aspinall stopped him for the interim belt after Jon Jones withdrew from a planned bout with Stipe Miocic. The three-fight streak is the first sustained push he has built since that loss.
The matchup is a pure power fight. Pereira has 11 knockouts on a 13-4 record. Pavlovich has 16 knockouts on a 21-3 record.
Pereira is the longer fighter at 6-foot-4. Pavlovich is listed at 6-foot-3 with an 84-inch reach and a southpaw stance that has ended several UFC nights inside a minute.
Neither man is coming off a decision. Pereira’s last win was a first-round stoppage of Magomed Ankalaev in their October 2025 rematch at light heavyweight. Pavlovich’s last three wins have all been finishes.
Opening odds listed Pavlovich as a slight favorite, around -135, with Pereira near +114. Those numbers reflect the Gane loss more than Pereira’s body of work at 185 and 205.
A win does not guarantee Pereira the next title shot. Gane’s November defense will still sit above this fight on the calendar, and the UFC has not said the December winner is locked into a championship bout.
It does put both men in the immediate heavyweight conversation. Pereira needs a win to show the move to 265 was not a one-fight experiment. Pavlovich needs a win over a former two-division champion to turn a streak into a title case.
White closed the segment by laughing at the table around him.
“You’re, you’re, you’re like knocking all the sh*t over on, on the table here,” he said.
The booking itself was clear. Pereira and Pavlovich will share a five-round co-main on December 12 in Las Vegas, and the rest of UFC 335 is still open.
