It appears that Alex Pereira’s next step will be seeking UFC gold at heavyweight, and that could come true in his next fight, which could be in the main event of the UFC White House card.
In a new video regarding Pereira vacating the light heavyweight title, Ariel Helwani claims, as many have assumed, the reason for Pereira vacating the championship is that he is being allowed to move up to heavyweight.
In addition, according to Helwani, there have been discussions about having Pereira vs. Jon Jones taking place as the featured bout of the UFC White House card — either for a would-be vacant heavyweight championship or an interim one.
Helwani says that this fight is not a guarantee, and there’s not a lot of positive momentum about this fight taking place. It has, however, at least been talked about as a potential idea.
“Alex Pereira is no longer the light heavyweight champion, and I can tell you right here and now that there have been some talks of him fighting Jon Jones,” Helwani said. “And there have been talks of him fighting Jon Jones on the White House card.
“Jon Jones on the White House card is not dead, but I could tell you I don’t feel as of right now a ton of positive momentum in that direction. But I’m not here to tell you that it’s dead. There have been talks of this.”
Helwani adds that if Pereira vs. Jones doesn’t get done, then there are discussions of Pereira vs. Ciryl Gane, for what Helwani assumes would be an interim heavyweight championship.
Whether Pereira’s heavyweight debut features an undisputed or interim heavyweight title at stake will also depend on the status of champion Tom Aspinall. Aspinall has been sidelined with eye issues since he and Gane’s no-contest at UFC 321 in October.
Jones has publicly hoped at the possibility of competing in front of U.S. President Donald Trump on the UFC White House card. Jones, in fact, ended his retirement after just two weeks when the opportunity first opened up.
UFC CEO and President Dana White, however, has previously stated apprehension about Jones being involved in such a card.
White has also stated he preferred Pereira to stay at light heavyweight, but his stance on that seems to have softened over time.
Pereira is a former middleweight and light heavyweight champion. He regained the 205-pound title in his last fight, knocking out Magomed Ankalaev in just over a minute at UFC 320.
A heavyweight title win would make Pereira the first UFC fighter ever to win championships in three different weight classes.
Carlos Ulberg and Jiri Prochazka will fight for the vacated light heavyweight title in the main event of UFC 327, which takes place on April 11 in Miami.
