Michael Bisping will be making the trek down to Washington, DC in under three months’ time for the UFC Freedom 250 event on The White House grounds. The six-fight card will be headlined by two title fights at the top of the bill, including a contest at heavyweight in the evening’s co-main attraction

With permanent UFC Heavyweight Champion Tom Aspinall still out for the time being, Alex Pereira, (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC,) who’s already won UFC titles in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, along with the middleweight and light heavyweight championships in GLORY Kickboxing, will make a run at a third UFC title in June. Ciryl Gane (13-2, 1 NC MMA, 10-2, 1 NC UFC) serves as Pereira’s opposition.

Pereira will have some added motivation to do well in the June 14 fight in Washington, as he recently came to terms with the UFC on a new deal. This contract comes at a time when the subject of compensation for competitors has become a controversial topic in MMA circles.

Michael Bisping Opens Up on Pereira’s New Deal on YouTube

While certain fighters have been short-changed when it comes to finances, Alex Pereira won’t be in that category. On St. Patrick’s Day, Michael Bisping discussed “Poatan’s” new deal with the UFC on his YouTube channel.

“He just signed, Pereira, ‘Poatan,’ one of the hardest-hitting guys the sport’s ever seen, he just signed a lifetime deal with the UFC,” Michael Bisping began. “He did an interview with Ariel Helwani and he went into all the details: He has signed an eight-fight deal, and I know I said ‘lifetime contract.’ It’s not a lifetime contract, but that’s as good as a lifetime!”

Michael Bisping acknowledged that Alex Pereira’s new deal will be one that will, in all probability, carry him into his retirement as a competitor.

“The man is 38 years old, he signed an eight-fight deal,” he said. “That means that he ain’t fighting anywhere else, and let me tell you, he is over the moon with the deal.”

Bisping Guesstimates on Pereira’s Wages in New Deal

While Michael Bisping admitted that the only people who definitively know how much money Alex Pereira was making in his previous contract were those closest to the situation, he did allow himself a chance to try and ballpark the figures.

“First off, congratulations,” he continued. “I don’t know the numbers involved. Nobody does. I assume he was making somewhere around $3, $3.5, $4 million per fight. This new deal, which probably does lock him up for the rest of his combat sports life, is probably going to be around the $5, $6 million range. Who knows? I’m guessing, I’m spit-balling, but that would not surprise me.”

As previously mentioned, wages for fighters has become a hot-button issue in the sport, with some competitors, such as Ronda Rousey, speaking out publicly on the matter. In his video, Michael Bisping mentioned that Pereira is only one of the fighters in the upper-echelon of MMA to be given lucrative deals to set foot inside the cage.

“I know a lot of people have been talking (expletive deleted) about the UFC,” he said. “Funnily enough, the champs, the people at the top of the sport, the best in the planet and in the division, the guys that drive the sport, they’re not complaining, and I wasn’t back in my day.”

Michael Bisping on Alex Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane

Pereira is due to make the first walk to the fabled Octagon in June to fight Gane for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship on The White House grounds in Washington. Michael Bisping talked about the June 14 co-main event.

“The old cliché in combat sports is ‘I don’t want to look past my opponent because I’m focused on Ciryl Gane’, and he should be,” he said. “That’s a tough fight but it’s a very winnable fight. It’s a very fun, compelling matchup. A lot of people came out talking (censored) to me because I said ‘It might be a better matchup than Jon Jones.’

From there, “The Count” explained the rationale behind his earlier comments.

“It will be a striking affair,” Michael Bisping said. “People didn’t love the BMF [contest] because Charles Oliveira dominated the fight on the ground, and more than likely, I’m not being disrespectful to Pereira, you’ve got to think that’s what Jon Jones would do.”

Final Thoughts

Michael Bisping’s analysis of Alex Pereira’s new deal and upcoming fight with Gane are most accurate. Fighters who are main-event caliber bring the most eyes to the screen on the night of the event. Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane fit the bill perfectly.

Main-event caliber fighters like Alex Pereira should be paid as such. Although there’s no way of actually knowing if Bisping’s ballpark figures are the actual numbers, Pereira will likely be counting up the dough for the rest of his days in the sport.