"It's legalized cheating" - Fans react as "weight bully" Alex Pereira reveals post-weigh-ins weight hours before UFC 307

Within a day of successfully weighing in for UFC 307, Alex Pereira has seemingly gained significant weight ahead of his upcoming title fight against Khalil Rountree Jr. 'Poatan' tipped the scale at 205 pounds at Friday's official weigh-ins, and so did Rountree Jr., locking in the main event for the card.

With a few hours remaining before the title fight, Pereira shared a video on his Instagram Story revealing his current weight after refueling post-weigh-ins. In the clip, he gets up after enjoying a meal with his family and team, removes his shirt, and gets on a digital scale. It shows 104.3 kg (nearly 230 pounds).

Take a look at the video below shared by Happy Punch on X:

Fans were quick to share their opinions on the matter. One person wrote:

"It's legalized cheating... He enslaves Jon though."

Another expressed surprise at how Pereira can ever hope to make middleweight again to fight Dricus du Plessis:

"And he wants to drop down to fight DDP. Makes no sense."

A third called him a "weight bully" and lauded Israel Adesanya for knocking him out.

Take a look at more fan comments about Alex Pereira's weight gain in the collage below:

Fan reactions to Alex Pereira gaining 25 pounds after UFC 307 weigh-ins [Image courtesy: Comments under @HappyPunch's tweet]

Pereira regained similar weight ahead of beating Israel Adesanya in their first MMA fight at UFC 281. He posted a picture on social media weighing around 211.4 pounds, 26.4 pounds more than the 185-pound limit on the middleweight championship weight.

In a Nov. 2022 episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan spoke on the matter, labeling Pereira's ability to bulk up before fights despite drastic weight cuts as "sanctioned cheating."

He said:

"It's a bullsh*t thing. It's basically sanctioned cheating, it really is, but everybody does it. But Izzy [Israel Adesanya] barely does it [cutting weight]. When Izzy went up to fight Jan Błachowicz at light heavyweight, he weighed 194 [pounds], which is crazy, because Błachowicz is a giant light heavyweight."

Catch Joe Rogan's comments on Alex Pereira below (11:55):