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Alex Pereira's Case For G.O.A.T Status | UFC Freedom 250
Where Does A Win At UFC Freedom 250 Put ‘Poatan’ In The Pantheon?
Where does Alex Pereira fit in the pantheon of all-time greats if he defeats Ciryl Gane on Sunday, claims the interim UFC heavyweight title and becomes the first individual to hold championship gold in three different divisions?
That’s one the biggest questions on the table heading into UFC Freedom 250 this weekend. Rather than wait and try and break it down after the fights should he win, we figured getting out ahead of it made a lot more sense.
Let’s get into it.
THE CANDIDATES
Everyone’s mileage on who deserves to be included in the “Greatest of All Time” (G.O.A.T.) discussion is going to vary, but the following competitors feel like the rightful names that need to be mentioned when completing an exercise like this:
HISTORY OF 2-DIVISION CHAMPS: Part 1 | Part 2
Anderson Silva: The former middleweight champion was the hands-down leader in this category for quite some time after setting the UFC record for most consecutive wins and most consecutive successful title defenses. Late-career struggles didn’t diminish his standing as much as others matching or exceeding his impressive accomplishments shifted the conversation.
Georges St-Pierre: The longtime ruler of the welterweight division returned after a five-year layoff to claim the middleweight title with a dramatic submission win over Michael Bisping and then retired again, exiting on a 13-fight winning streak and having avenged each of his two career losses. A pristine track record helps his case too.
Jon Jones: “Bones” has the most title fight victories in UFC history (16), is one of 11 two-division champions, and his lone career loss was a disputed disqualification in his fourth UFC appearance. He wrapped his career on a 20-fight unbeaten streak and is the most gifted fighter to ever grace the Octagon, but his positive tests, legal troubles, and the way the final five years of his career played out factor into the assessment for some.
Demetrious Johnson: Arguably the most complete fighter in MMA history, “Mighty Mouse” broke Silva’ record for the most consecutive successful title defenses, has the third most title fight wins (12), fourth most title fight finishes (7) and absolutely dominated his division like few others. The knock on Johnson is more of a knock on the division as the flyweight ranks weren’t as robust and competitive during his reign as they are now.
FIGHT WEEK INTERVIEWS: Justin Gaethje | Ilia Topuria | Ciryl Gane | Diego Lopes | Derrick Lewis
Khabib Nurmagomedov: The case begins with the fact that unlike everyone else on this list, Nurmagomedov never lost. His 13 straight wins inside the Octagon is tied with St-Pierre, Jones, Johnson, and Max Holloway for the fifth longest streak in history. If there are demerits against “The Eagle,” it’s that he won a vacant title in a bout against Al Iaquinta and only defended the belt three times although he beat Conor McGregor, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje, earning finishes in all three contests.
Amanda Nunes: Hands down the greatest female fighter of all time, “The Lioness” crafted a career that rivals her male counterparts, having claimed UFC gold in two weight classes and being the only person to ever simultaneously defend both titles. From a pure “what they accomplished” standpoint, Nunes’ achievements actually eclipse most of her male contemporaries, with depth and skill level on the women’s side of the sport standing as the lone minor demerit against her.
Islam Makhachev: The heir to the lightweight throne after Nurmagomedov abdicated, there is an argument that Makhachev surpassed his coach’s achievements at lightweight (more wins, more title defenses) and has now added the welterweight title to his collection as well. He only lost once and matched Silva’s record for the longest winning streak when he won the welterweight strap, and he has a chance to make his own case for top spot if he’s able to successfully defend the belt a couple times.
ROOKIE YEARS: Ilia Topuria | Alex Pereira
Ilia Topuria: The UFC Freedom 250 headliner is 17-0 and a two-division champion in the UFC with the chance to add to his already impressive string of wins by taking out Justin Gaethje in Sunday’s finale. Like Makhachev, his still being active and having the opportunity to add to his resume make him another to track in this conversation.
PEREIRA’S CREDENTIALS
- 10-2 in the UFC with eight finishes
- 13-3 overall with 11 finishes
- Wins over both fighters to beat him in the UFC (Israel Adesanya, Magomed Ankalaev)
- Former middleweight champion
- Two-time former light heavyweight champion
- Seven wins over former UFC champions
- Fewest bouts to become a two-division champion (11 fights)
WHAT IF HE WINS?
Everything that follows begins with the understanding that beating Ciryl Gane is no easy feat, and it’s entirely possible that “Bon Gamin” renders this entire hypothetical moot on Sunday. That being said…
The fact that Pereira is even challenging for championship gold in a third weight class is bonkers and has got to earn him massive points, even if you are one of those “must be fun at parties” types who wants to say he didn’t earn this opportunity. Counterpoint: being a two-weight world champion (and two-time light heavyweight champion) is how he earned the opportunity. If you don’t like people doing cool things like trying to make history, you really must be super-fun at parties.
UFC FREEDOM 250 FREE FIGHTS: O'Malley vs Almeida | Gaethje vs Poirier 2 | Pereira vs Ankalaev 2 | Garcia vs Onama | Topuria vs Oliveira | Lopes vs Yusuff | Hokit vs Blaydes
Should he beat Gane, it makes things quite interesting because winning a third title sets a new bar for greatness and a new goal for others — like Makhachev and Topuria, potentially — to shoot for in the future. We’ve seen Jones complete the light heavyweight and heavyweight double, but it’s the fact that he started this whole thing off at middleweight that makes it wild. It remains unfathomable how this gargantuan human being ever made the 185-pound limit.
The other part is who he would have beaten in achieving this feat. Adesanya is one of the two or three best middleweights in UFC history. He won the vacant title by beating a former champ in Jiri Prochazka, successfully defended it against Prochazka and Jamahal Hill, rallied to beat Khalil Rountree Jr. and then won it back in dominant fashion against Magomed Ankalaev, who had only ever been beaten once before. If he claims the heavyweight title by becoming the third person to beat Gane, who has already held the interim title and looked good in the early going of his bout champion emeritus Tom Aspinall before poking him in the eye, that becomes a tremendous collection of top talents to have beaten in championship fights.
Alex Pereira Sits Down With Megan Olivi | UFC Freedom 250
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Alex Pereira Sits Down With Megan Olivi | UFC Freedom 250
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And then there is the statistical side of things. It’s already crazy that Pereira won his first title one year after his debut and his second a year after that, but to win titles in three weight classes in just 13 fights in ridiculous, especially when you factor in that this will be his ninth UFC title fight and seventh straight overall.
For Pereira to potentially have more title fight wins than Kamaru Usman, Rondy Rousey, and Joanna Jedrzejczyk while spreading them across three divisions is insane, and as much as we rightfully laud the lengthy reigns of champions like Silva, St-Pierre, Jones, and Johnson, a Pereira win on Sunday would have people doing a “quality versus quantity” analysis.
UFC FREEDOM 250 PRESENTED BY CRYPTO.COM & RAM: Pereira Always Available | Lopes’ Responsibility | Legendary Gaethje | O’Malley Interview | Garcia’s Moment | Chandler Hungry
That’s not to say those other candidates and Hall of Fame members didn’t beat quality competition along the way, but they weren’t beating former titleholders at every turn. Silva beat three former champs. St-Pierre beat seven individuals for nine total wins. Jones has nine wins as well. Johnson beat just one former champ, Henry Cejudo, while Nurmagomedov beat four. Makhachev beat four as well (for five wins), and Topuria has bested three straight heading into the weekend.
This would be seven former champs and eight total wins (two against Prochazka) in 13 fights for Pereira, which is far quicker than any of his contemporaries. He faced one non-titleholder (Rountree Jr.) over his last 10 fights. Gane makes it 10-out-of-11.
Signed in for the hunt 🏹@AlexPereiraUFC looks to capture the heavyweight title at #UFCWhiteHouse!
— UFC (@ufc) June 9, 2026
[ SUNDAY JUNE 14 | LIVE at 8pmET on @ParamountPlus | Title fights presented by @CryptoCom ] pic.twitter.com/JXzIUY5PIK
The only person who can compete with those kinds of numbers is Nunes, who owns 10 wins over eight former champions (two wins against both Germaine de Randamie and Valentina Shevchenko), and that kind of makes sense give that she is universally regarded as the best female fighter of all time.
CONCLUSION
There are no wrong answers when discussing rightfully deserving candidates, and I tend to take more of an “I celebrate them all” approach like this was a discussion of the hits of Michael Bolton. That being said, “Poatan” is going to have a pretty strong case for joining the all-time elite if he claims interim gold on Sunday and sets up further interesting discussions down the line if and when a title unification bout comes together.
Chama.
UFC Freedom 250 presented by Crypto.com and Ram took place live from the White House in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, June 14. See the Official Results, Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!