Former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is aiming to make history once again, as he prepares to move up yet another division to face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title at UFC Freedom 250 on June 14 at the White House.
If Pereira (13-3 MMA, 10-2 UFC) secures the victory, he will become the first fighter in UFC history to win titles across three different weight classes, a feat that would further cement his legacy as one of the sport’s most accomplished champions.
However, the bout has sparked debate among fans, with some questioning the legitimacy of an interim title compared to an undisputed championship. Former rival Israel Adesanya (24-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC) has strongly pushed back against that criticism.
Speaking to The Mac Life ahead of his upcoming main event against Joe Pyfer at UFC Seattle, Adesanya dismissed the notion that an interim belt carries less value.
“He's a champion. Three-weight world champion… f**k interim,” Adesanya said. “Like you can't tell me a guy gets a belt… Look up the word interim, what it means: ‘in the meantime, in the interim, he is the champion.’”
Adesanya also pointed to his own experience with interim gold, arguing that the distinction has little meaning once the belt is earned inside the Octagon.
“My belts have how many rubies on them? People try and like discredit it and be like, 'Oh, well, one of them was interim.' I'm like, 'Well, come take it away… come take it away from me.’ He's gonna be the champion, and then he's gonna have a super fight with Jon Jones and that'll be a big-ass fight too.”
A potential superfight between Pereira and former heavyweight champion Jon Jones had been widely speculated as a marquee option for the White House event. However, negotiations between Jones and the UFC reportedly fell through, paving the way for the interim title matchup with Gane instead.
Despite the setback, Adesanya remains confident that the UFC will eventually bring major fights together.
“They’ll find a way,” he said. “The UFC and the brass over there, they always — and the fighters as well — they butt heads, or your managers. But we always get there in the end.”
