{"id":512386,"date":"2026-03-01T19:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T19:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512386\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T19:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T19:35:09","slug":"alex-pereiras-latest-move-to-heavyweight-could-result-in-ufc-history-by-end-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/512386\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Pereira&#8217;s Latest Move To Heavyweight Could Result In UFC History By End of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4w\">UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira is betting on himself once again.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"4z\">Despite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/magomed-ankalaev-reveals-brutal-injury-before-ufc-320-loss-alex-pereira\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">regaining the belt <\/a>that was once his last October with a KO\/TKO stoppage of Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320, Pereira opted to vacate the title in an official announcement from UFC CEO Dana White last Friday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"52\">While former champion Ji\u0159\u00ed Prochazka will now fight Carlos Ulberg in Miami, headlining UFC 327 in April, Pereira&#8217;s move to heavyweight could signal a fight between<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/jon-jones-sends-concerning-message-to-dana-white-as-ufc-white-house-card-looms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> former two-division champion Jon Jones<\/a> or current UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall, should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/3-things-ufc-dana-white-can-do-to-fix-heavyweight-division-in-tom-aspinall-s-absence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">his eye heal 100 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"55\">Jones revealed in a short, now-viral video circulating Sunday morning that he intends to fight at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/fannation\/mma\/news\/dana-white-denies-reported-new-date-ufc-white-house-card\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">UFC White House event\u00a0<\/a>in Washington, D.C., on June 14.<\/p>\n<p>Will Jon Jones Headline UFC White House Event?<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/01jx3gwdsfsm7jx91320.jpg\" alt=\"Jon Jones\" title=\"Jon Jones\" width=\"751\" height=\"422\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"5i\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Brad Penner-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udea8 Jon Jones reveals he&#8217;s in talks to fight on the UFC White House card \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m in negotiations with the UFC about this White House [fight] as well. I&#8217;m a very proud American, and I cannot wait to represent one more time.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5dySHjvDc4\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/5dySHjvDc4<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChampRDS\/status\/2028107997033943082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">March 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">&#8220;I&#8217;m in negotiations with the UFC about this White House [fight] as well,&#8221; Jones said. &#8220;I&#8217;m a very proud American, and I cannot wait to represent one more time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5s\">According to Uncrowned&#8217;s Ariel Helwani, the direction the UFC wants to go in is, in fact, making the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/arielhelwani\/status\/2028125610212561201?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Jones-Pereira fight a reality. <\/a>It is unclear if a title of some kind would be at stake.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">&#8220;He doesn\u2019t mention an opponent but fight would be versus Alex Pereira,&#8221; Helwani wrote. &#8220;It\u2019s without a doubt the best option. Not done, though. Let\u2019s see if they can get this done.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">Pereira would have the opportunity to make UFC history should he fight for a heavyweight title. Having already won the middleweight and light heavyweight titles, a heavyweight title victory would make the former kickboxer the first-ever three-weight UFC world champion.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Notable fighters, including Conor McGregor, B.J. Penn, and Amanda Nunes, to name a few, have won titles <a href=\"https:\/\/www.givemesport.com\/every-ufc-double-champion\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">in at least two divisions.<\/a> But for Pereira&#8217;s legacy, it&#8217;s arguably undeniable that if he wins the heavyweight strap, he&#8217;d couldn&#8217;t be viewed as anything other than one of the best to ever do it as a one-of-one champion.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">The trifecta, if you will.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Pereira Chases UFC History<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/01jwcen4wdnh18sa65f2.jpg\" alt=\"Alex Pereira making his walkout\" title=\"Alex Pereira making his walkout\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6h\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Chris Unger-Zuffa LL<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\">Pereira is not just taking a risk. He&#8217;s doing so because he feels he can, and he knows that he has given the UFC a lot of support over the years with headlining several high-profile main events, while also delivering viral moments that are replayed over and over again.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\">Therefore, should he get the biggest fight of his career, it&#8217;s the UFC&#8217;s way of saying that it is willing to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RedCorner_MMA\/status\/2025434039776362757\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">work with him<\/a> because of what he has done for the promotion.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\">Unpopular or not, it could be considered sport-altering when all is set and done. But only time will tell.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira is betting on himself once again. Despite regaining the belt that was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-512386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}