Alex Pereira Wants a Third UFC Belt — And He'll Fight Anyone to Get It

Alex Pereira isn't done collecting hardware. Six weeks removed from a second-round knockout loss to Ciryl Gane in the interim heavyweight fight at UFC White House, the Brazilian told fans at a Q&A in Serbia that a third UFC belt is the last real goal left in his career — and he's willing to take on anyone to get back in line for a 2027 title run.

That's a bold play for a man who's 13-4 and has already worn straps at 185 and 205. His three UFC defeats all share one thing: every single one came in a championship bout, spread across three weight classes. Pereira framed the Gane loss as unfinished business, saying he still has one mission — winning that third title — and vowing that next time he won't let it slip away.

The Comeback Timeline

Pereira admitted he hasn't returned to hard training yet after a brutal night in Washington, D.C., but pointed to November as a realistic target. He's floated the idea of headlining the UFC's annual Madison Square Garden card, and true to form, he doesn't much care who's across from him. Whoever they put in front of him, he says, he'll fight.

There's no named opponent yet, and our database has him listed for a title eliminator against a TBA — which tracks with how open-ended his own plans sound. Gane, meanwhile, sits at #1 in the heavyweight rankings at 14-2, holding the interim belt and the tiebreaker over Poatan.

The Herb Dean Question

Pereira has needled referee Herb Dean since the Gane fight, and he didn't back off in Serbia — though he stopped short of calling it a robbery. He argued mistakes were made, that illegal strikes weren't handled properly, and that a cleaner officiated fight might have looked completely different. He wouldn't say he'd have won. He just wouldn't rule it out.

What separates Pereira from a lot of fighters, in his telling, is that he's made peace with losing. He's been beaten in kickboxing before, and he says accepting defeat as part of the job is exactly what lets him rebuild. Plenty of undefeated types, he noted, crumble when a big fight finally goes the wrong way. He doesn't plan to be one of them — and at 11 knockouts across his UFC run, he's still got the tools to make his case at heavyweight.