Alex Pereira’s Pavlovich booking tests whether his finishing game travels at heavyweight

Bloody Elbow reported that Alex Pereira will face Sergei Pavlovich in the UFC 335 co-main event this December, framing the matchup as Pereira’s chance to avenge Pavlovich’s knockout of frequent sparring partner Tallison Teixeira.

The revenge thread gives the booking promotional heat. It does not give bettors a usable variable. Pereira’s move to heavyweight does.

Pereira lost his first appearance in the division when Ciryl Gane stopped him in the second round on June 15. UFC 335 will provide the next test of whether Pereira’s established striking process still produces the same effects against larger opposition—and whether the defensive cost of his offense rises with it.

Pereira’s knockout case starts with efficiency, not just power

Pereira has won eight of his 10 archived UFC victories by knockout or TKO, an 80% finish rate across those wins. That is a meaningful sample, supported by seven knockdowns over 33 tracked rounds rather than one isolated finishing streak.

The mechanism is layered offense. Pereira has landed 697 significant strikes in the tracked sample at 61% accuracy, averaging 5.01 significant strikes per minute. His target distribution is unusually balanced: 326 landed to the head, 180 to the body and 191 to the legs. He does not need to chase one opening from the first exchange. Damage to the body and legs can narrow an opponent’s reactions before the head attack becomes decisive.

That profile matters to method-of-victory and round betting. Pereira has shown several finishing timelines in his recent run: first-round against Magomed Ankalaev, second-round against Jiří Procházka and fourth-round against Khalil Rountree Jr. His offense can end a fight early, but it can also accumulate damage until an opponent’s defensive structure breaks.