Alex Pereira Meets Sergei Pavlovich in UFC 335 Co-Main
Alex Pereira will face Sergei Pavlovich in a five-round heavyweight co-main event at UFC 335.
The bout is set for December 12, 2026, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Dana White confirmed the booking Saturday night, and the UFC has listed it as the co-main rather than the headliner.
Pereira is 13-4 and ranked No. 3 at heavyweight. Pavlovich is 21-3 and ranked No. 2, so the fight pairs two of the top three men in the division behind champion Ciryl Gane.
That ranking gap is one spot, and the recent form is not close. Pereira is coming off the first loss of his heavyweight run, while Pavlovich has won three straight and finished his last opponent in 39 seconds.
Pereira, 39, is a former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion. He vacated the 205-pound title earlier this year to chase a third belt, a move that would have made him the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in three divisions.
The first step failed. Gane stopped him by TKO in the second round on June 14 at UFC Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C., in a fight for the interim heavyweight title.
Pereira pressed for a rematch after that loss. Gane has since been elevated to undisputed champion, and he is booked to defend against Josh Hokit at UFC 334 on November 14 at Madison Square Garden.
That defense lands a month before UFC 335. A Pereira win in December would put him back in the conversation, but it would not automatically jump the line ahead of whoever leaves New York with the belt.
Pavlovich’s case is built on finishes. The Russian stopped Tallison Teixeira by knockout in the first round on May 30 in Macau, the 39-second win White cited when he announced the fight.
That result extended a three-fight streak that also includes wins over Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Waldo Cortes-Acosta. Pavlovich is 9-3 in the UFC, with seven knockouts.
He last fought for a title in November 2023, when Tom Aspinall stopped him for the interim belt. The streak since 2025 is the cleanest run he has put together after that loss.
The styles point toward an early finish. Pereira has 11 knockouts on a 13-4 record. Pavlovich has 16 knockouts on a 21-3 record, and a large share of those wins have ended in the first round.
Pereira is listed at 6-foot-4. Pavlovich is 6-foot-3 with an 84-inch reach and a southpaw stance that has ended several UFC nights inside a minute.
Neither man is arriving off a decision. Pereira’s last win was a first-round stoppage of Magomed Ankalaev in their October 2025 rematch at light heavyweight. Pavlovich has not been pushed into the championship rounds during this streak.
Opening odds made Pavlovich a slight favorite, around -135, with Pereira near +114. The number tracks the Gane loss more than Pereira’s title runs at 185 and 205.
The UFC has not called the fight a title eliminator. With Pavlovich at No. 2 and Pereira at No. 3, the winner will still be difficult to pass over once Gane’s November defense is settled.
White framed the bout as a five-round co-main even though it is not the main event. The headliner for UFC 335 has not been announced.
“It’s five rounds in the co-main event, Alex Pereira, he will be taking on Sergey Pavlovich,” White said. “Who’s coming off a 39-second win against Talison Teixeira.”
That is the matchup on paper. A former two-division champion trying to prove the move to heavyweight still works, against the No. 2 heavyweight who has spent the last year ending fights before they develop.
December 12 is the date. T-Mobile Arena is the building. The rest of the card can wait. The co-main is already the fight that will decide whether Pereira’s third-title chase stays alive.
