Alex Perez bounced back into the win column in a big way at UFC 324, but whether or not the free agent returns to the octagon is somewhat up in the air. Perez stopped Charles Johnson, who was halted with a left hook at the 3:16 mark of round one, by assigned referee Jason Herzog at UFC 324 on January 24th.
Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, with an excerpt posted to X account @jedigoodman, the flyweight fighter touched on how his management has already been talking to the UFC brass about extending his contractual agreement. When asked if he feels confident that he will be signing another contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Perez said,
“I feel confident, you know. Obviously the performance shows a lot. I’m going out there finishing Charles [Johnson], he’s tough. He’s never been finished and I was the first one to do it. So I think that made a statement and they want to see finishes especially in the lighter divisions. So it just kind of all worked in my favour. So I feel very confident that I’ll get another fight.”
Alex Perez on his weight-miss leading into his eventual UFC 324 win
Alex Perez made a big impression on the overall hierarchy of 125 pounds, but there was also an unavoidable component that saw him miss the contracted weight for the bout. Perez touched on the contextual element of this UFC 324 fight being a shorter notice turn around for him, and when touching upon the failed pursuit on the scales, Alex Perez stated [via Cageside Press],
“The weight issue I think it was just too back-to-back. I fought in Doha, I come back through the holidays and do this again. I tend to think I’m still young which I’m not. I’ll be 34 in March so I can’t make those quick turnarounds like I used to.”
“Hopefully I showed the UFC I still belong. I have to sit down and talk to my management and talk to Mick Maynard. Hopefully they can forgive me for this, and hopefully I can get a couple more fights in.”
