Alex Pereira has signed a new eight-fight contract with the UFC, and the Brazilian says the deal made it easy to walk away from the light heavyweight title.
Pereira made the revelation on Monday's episode of The Ariel Helwani Show, explaining that the UFC took care of him financially to the point where vacating the belt was a non-issue.
"Honestly, I just wanted to let go of my belt and fight heavyweights, maybe even fight for a belt," Pereira said through an interpreter. "But even if it was a regular fight, I just expressed that I wanted to do a heavyweight fight, and they really took good care of me. The way they gave me this last contract was so good that I left it open for them to do whatever they wanted—it didn't matter."
"With this new deal that UFC gave to me, I don't care about letting go of the belt or anything like that. They took really good care of me."
It was announced on February 27, 2026, that Jiří Procházka and Carlos Ulberg would headline UFC 327 for the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship following Pereira's decision to move up.
Pereira is scheduled to attempt to become the first UFC fighter to win titles in three divisions, competing for the interim heavyweight championship against former interim champion Ciryl Gane. A victory would make the former kickboxer the first-ever three-weight UFC world champion, a feat no one in the promotion's history has accomplished.
Pereira previously signed an eight-fight deal ahead of UFC 300 in early 2024. This new contract signals the UFC's commitment to keeping one of its biggest stars locked in for the foreseeable future as he embarks on a heavyweight run.