Alex
Pereira has a new UFC deal. | Getty/UFC
There will be no contract dispute between Alex
Pereira and the
Ultimate Fighting Championship.
During a Monday appearance on ““The Ariel Helwani Show,” the former
two-division champion revealed that he recently inked a new
eight-fight deal with the Las Vegas-based promotion.
Pereira recently vacated the 205-pound belt to move up to
heavyweight, where he will face Ciryl Gane
for the interim title in the
UFC White House co-main event on June 14. The decision to give
up the light heavyweight championship wasn’t too difficult once
Pereira received a new contract offer. While “Poatan” did not share
financial terms, it was clear he was quite pleased with the
results.
Easy Choice
“It was a pretty easy choice when I expressed I wanted to go
[heavyweight.] Of course, I had to let go of the belt, but they
gave me a new contract and I’m really, really happy with my new
contract,” Pereira said through a translator. “I actually want to
thank Mick [Maynard], Hunter [Campbell] and Dana White for it. So
this new deal that they gave to me? I don’t care about letting go
of the belt or anything like that.
“… They took really good care of me. The way they gave me this
last contract was so good that I let it up to them to do whatever
they want. It didn’t matter.”
A former Glory Kickboxing two-division champion, Pereira has
emerged as one of the UFC’s top stars since beginning his
promotional tenure in 2021. After a short reign as middleweight
king, the Brazilian moved up to 205 pounds and claimed the belt
there with a stoppage of Jiri
Prochazka at UFC 295. He defended the title three times before
falling to Magomed
Ankalaev at UFC 313. He regained the crown with a first-round
technical knockout of Ankalaev in his most recent outing at
UFC
320 this past October.