Undisputed UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira has a shortlist of three potential bouts in mind as he looks to book another huge fight.

Pereira’s next assignment will see him return to the Octagon to face top contender Magomed Ankalaev in the main event of UFC 313 in Las Vegas on March 8.

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But, while he is determined to maintain his grip on the 205-pound title, “Poatan” has three potential fights in mind for later this year.

Pereira has three different avenues he could pursue. One is a light heavyweight title defense against current middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis, who has indicated his desire to eventually move up to challenge the Brazilian. Another is a heavyweight title tilt against Jon Jones, who had previously stated that he’d rather fight “Poatan” than Tom Aspinall.

The third, and most intriguing, option is a boxing match between Pereira and the unified heavyweight champion of the world, Oleksandr Usyk. Pereira has stated his wish to face the Ukrainian pound-for-pound great in the ring, and Usyk suggested he could be interested, too, telling TNT Sports, “why not?” during a recent interview.

And, when pressed to offer his preference from the three options in front of him, Pereira told Stake.com that his first choice bout would be the Usyk fight.

“That’s a hard choice,” he admitted.

“If we were to say which fight is most beneficial to me, and the better fight for me, I would say Du Plessis.

“Jon Jones is a different weight class and there are other variables. But what I really want, in a perfect world, would be boxing Usyk.”

The big question over that particular matchup is whether the necessary barriers can be cleared to allow Pereira to step out of the Octagon and into the boxing ring.

But with Dana White and the UFC’s parent company, TKO, planning a boxing promotion to operate out of Saudi Arabia, Pereira’s wish could potentially become a reality. But, as things stand, the fight is just a pipe dream for the former two-division kickboxing world champion.

“Honestly, I don’t know, (whether it will happen),” he said.

“Obviously, I watched his interview, but I am super focused on my fight right now.

“Everything will work out with this fight, then we’ll talk about that. I have interest and I think it makes a lot of sense.

“I think there is a partnership between those guys (in Saudi Arabia) and the UFC, so let’s see what happens.”

Before any serious steps can be made to book that fight, Pereira has business to attend to in the Octagon at UFC 313, when he takes on Ankalaev.

Many believe Ankalaev represents the most dangerous challenger to his light heavyweight reign, but Pereira said he wasn’t so sure.

“I don’t know if there is a particular thing that makes him more dangerous than the others,” he said.

“For example, Adesanya is more dangerous than Ankalaev. People say that they haven’t seen me grapple as much, but I’m a well rounded fighter, I’m a complete fighter.

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“It’s not that I want to go in there and prove anything to anyone, but I know he is going to grapple,” he continued.

“We’ve seen a lot of fighters say ‘Oh I’m going to go in there with Pereira and stand with him and not take him down’, but I have a very unique standup game which makes it hard for grapplers to close the distance and grapple me.

“We’ve seen fighters who lose to me say that they lost, but they did what they said they’d do and strike with me. Maybe it’s more the fact that they couldn’t take me down!”

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