Alex Pereira is the UFC’s go-to guy — but even he had his limits tested this past weekend.

Following his UFC 307 main event win over Khalil Rountree Jr., the reigning light heavyweight champion told reporters a number of maladies threatened to force him to withdraw from Saturday’s show in Salt Lake City. Among the list of obstacles Pereira dealt with ahead of fight night were a rib injury, a fever, and issues with his visa.

Despite the issues, Pereira made it to the cage and delivered as usual, but UFC commentator Daniel Cormier confirmed that he heard Pereira’s presence was in serious jeopardy, and that had he not competed, the bantamweight title bout between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Peña would have headlined UFC 307.

“I was talking to his manager and his coach after the fight and they said they told the UFC, ‘We’re going to go to Salt Lake. We’re going to try to train. But we may pull out,’” Cormier said on his Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast. “The UFC said to him, ‘That would suck, but let us know how it goes. Because we have two title fights, we’ll elevate one of that’s what we need to do.’

“He fights. The good will you gain from the organization when you do that is unbelievable. So if he did go into the offices of [UFC CEO] Dana [White] and [UFC CBO] Hunter [Campbell] and those guys and go, ‘I would like to fight Tom Aspinall for the interim championship,’ those actions he showed last weekend leads to you receiving those types of opportunities. So the world really is his oyster in terms of what he can do next if he so chooses to try and fight up at heavyweight. But for me, it’s fight [Magomed] Ankalaev. Right now, you’ve got to fight Ankalaev if he gets through [Aleksandar] Rakic.”

Cormier’s podcast co-host Chael Sonnen, was equally in awe of Pereira’s winning mixture of professionalism and performance, comparing “Poatan” to some of combat sports’ most intimidating personalities.

“The first time Wanderlei Silva was ever in my presence, he walked into a gym at Randy Couture’s and I remember I was out on the mat sparring,” Sonnen said. “He just walked in, he got his bag over his shoulder, I swear to goodness I could feel something around him. I felt that same way when I saw Royce [Gracie], the first time I saw Mike Tyson, Pereira is getting there. There is something happening at all times.

“This guy is embracing the entertainment side. … On the way out of the arena, the crowd stuck right after the main event and he begins a ‘Chama’ chant and they’re doing it back over and over. The Rock is about the only entertainer out there that can get the audience to engage, get the audience to stand up and do a chant back. We’ve got a guy that doesn’t even speak the tongue natively and he’s the one leading this. I’ve really never seen anything like Pereira, from a fighter to a presence to a leader to an inspiration, the guy is special and I would not have predicted this.”

All in all, that’s three title fight wins for Pereira in 2024 and four in less than 12 months. Pereira made the decision to fully commit to MMA in 2020 following a decorated kickboxing career, and in this relatively short time he has arguably become the face of the UFC.

For all of Pereira’s talents — his technical striking, his pure power, his durability — Cormier believes that his best ability is availability.

“People are locked into this guy and they love him and there’s nothing more important in fighting than being present,” Cormier said. “Him fighting as often as he does makes him more valuable, not only to the company, but to fans. Because a lot of times you get a guy that wins the belt, then he’s gone for a while. Ilia Topuria won the belt in [February], he hasn’t fought again. He’s not fighting until the next pay-per-view.

“It takes time for champions to go away and I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but for Pereira, he has somehow managed to be active and still have the fans fall in love with him, but that comes down to his fighting style. I was literally sitting next to that cage on Saturday night and I thought to myself if those opportunities were that present, I would have made much more money over the course of my career because I would have kept fighting, too. It just didn’t seem like we had that many chances to fight. And then I thought about it, I don’t know if I would have wanted to make weight as many times as I did. He’s doing everything. He’s making the weight, he’s fighting, he’s winning, defending championships, it really is a special time to watch a guy do things in mixed martial arts that I don’t know that we’ve ever seen before.”

UFC middleweights Chris Curtis and Roman Kopylov will throw down in January.

Curtis takes on Kopylov in a UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 11, which is expected to take place at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. A person with knowledge of the situation confirmed the booking to MMA Junkie following an initial report from MMA Fighting.

Curtis (31-11-1 MMA, 5-3-1 UFC) was scheduled to face Kevin Holland in Saturday’s UFC 307 event, but he withdrew after fracturing his foot. In his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 240 in April, Curtis lost a split decision to Brendan Allen in his first headliner.

Winner of five of his past six, with four of those wins coming by knockout, Kopylov (13-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) is coming off a split decision win over Cesar Almeida at UFC 302 in June.

With the addition, the current UFC Fight Night event on Jan. 11 includes:

• Chris Curtis vs. Roman Kopylov
• Thiago Moises vs. Trey Ogden

Wayne Rooney has been charged with improper conduct by the Football Association following his red card in Plymouth Argyle’s 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers.

The Pilgrims’ head coach faces three charges over the incident which came after Joe Rankin-Costello’s 87th-minute equaliser for the visitors. The Pilgrims felt there was a foul on Ryan Hardie in the build-up.

Rooney is accused of using insulting or abusive language towards a match official and that his conduct after he was red-carded was improper and/or violent.

He is also accused of a further improper conduct offence for returning to the field of play after his dismissal.

Argyle won the game thanks to a stoppage-time header from Morgan Whittaker, with Rooney’s assistant Pete Shuttleworth saying the former England captain’s “passion” spilled over in the incident.

Rooney, who has been Argyle boss since May, has until Tuesday, 15 October to respond.

Jon Jones is prepping for UFC 309 with a lot of different looks.

Jones defends his UFC heavyweight title for the first time in the main event of the UFC’s return to Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16 against former champ Stipe Miocic.

A little over a month away from the fight, Jones revealed he has been training with Olympic gold medalist, and former ex-WWE wrestler Gable Steveson, along with former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.

Jones is set to compete for the first time since winning his second divisional UFC world title, submitting Ciryl Gane at UFC 285 in March 2023. “Bones” was slated to face Miocic this past November before he withdrew due to injury. The former light heavyweight champ has teased that his upcoming bout could be his last, despite hope from the vast majority of the MMA community that Jones will face interim champ Tom Aspinall in a unification bout,

Artem Vakhitov’s story sounds like one we’ve heard before until it veers off in a bit of a different direction.

Fans looking for a blood-thirsty former rival who will storm into the UFC, badmouth one of its champions, and engage in a heated build-up to a long-awaited third meeting will have to remain content with Alex Pereira vs. Israel Adesanya.

Don’t get it twisted: Vakhitov (2-1) wants that crack at Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC), arguably the promotion’s biggest active star. After all, they are tied at one win apiece from showdowns of yesteryear in kickboxing.

But when it comes to selling the fight, Vakhitov has no issue with Pereira. In fact, the two have exchanged friendly messages since their pair of kickboxing bouts in 2021. The rivalry is strictly competitive, but Vakhitov sees potential for their skills to sell another showdown.

“We have a story with Alex, and it’s a good opportunity to face him again,” Vakhitov recently told MMA Junkie through a Russian interpreter. “It’s a big interest for me. I’ve seen that strikers are doing really, really well. I really want to show my striking and how we can do it.

“… It’s nothing personal with Alex. After our fight in kickboxing, we were messaging together and were in contact and had a lot of conversations. There’s nothing personal. … We have a very friendly relationship. I’m just wishing for him to win as much as he can until he meets me.”

How Pereira motivated Vakhitov

Vakhitov and Pereira first faced off at GLORY 77 in January 2021. Pereira defeated Vakhitov by split decision. Three months later in September 2021 at GLORY 78, the two collided again. This time, it was Vakhitov by split decision.

The kickboxing match was Pereira’s final one before he fully pursued MMA, quickly rising up the UFC ladder toward title gold in unprecedented fashion.

Seeing Pereira’s success planted the seeds in Vakhitov’s brain. Maybe it was time for him to give it a shot.

“It motivated me more and more to (follow),” Vakhitov said.

In June 2023, Vakhitov debuted in MMA but suffered a fight-ending shoulder injury in the opening minute. Six months later, he returned and won by 92-second TKO. He followed it up with a 22-second TKO due to leg kicks.

All the while, talks with the UFC, PFL, and other industry figureheads began.

“We were in touch a long time ago (with the UFC),” Vakhitov said. “I arrived a few months ago for my fight. Also, I went to a PFL event and met Ray Sefo and other guys, and Cejudo and his manager Ali (Abdelaziz). During all this situation, we were in touch with UFC and matchmaker Mick Maynard. My manager Andrey Busygin was going through negotiations. We got an opportunity for Dana White’s Contender Series. This was a very big pleasure that we got this. For sure, we agreed to it, and now we are here.”

Dana White’s Contender Series awaits

Vakhitov, 33, has the opportunity to earn a UFC contract Tuesday night at Dana White’s Contender Series 75 where he faces Islem Masraf (3-0) in a light heavyweight bout.

Despite the stakes, Vakhitov is blocking out the stakes and focusing on technique.

“Obviously, I just want to show the good and technical side of kickboxing in MMA,” Vakhitov said. “Not everyone is looking and searching for the KO. Some people are looking and searching for the good techniques. This is maybe my aim more.”

While a lot will have to happen before he’s aligned with Pereira once again, Vakhitov embraces the intertwined nature of their stories, particularly as he has championship aspirations.

“I’m ready for it,” Vakhitov said. “Most of all, I need to finalize my upcoming fight first. I’m ready to do that. Because I guess that people will really like it. For organizers, for promoters, it’s also a big interest. I’m ready to do it. Let’s go.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for DWCS 75.