UFC head claims Alex Pereira passes Jon Jones as GOAT with White House win

UFC President Dana White has suggested that Alex Pereira could surpass Jon Jones as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time—but only if "Poatan" pulls off an unprecedented feat at UFC White House on June 18.

Pereira is set to challenge Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title in the card's co-main event. Should he win, he will become the first fighter in UFC history to capture titles across three different weight divisions. White has long championed Jones as the GOAT, even attempting on multiple occasions to have Jones' disqualification loss to Matt Hamill overturned to a no contest, arguing that referee Steve Mazzagatti should have stopped the fight before illegal 12-to-6 elbows landed. However, White now sees Pereira's potential three-belt achievement as a historic milestone that could reshape the GOAT conversation.

"If he wins the third world title that night, he jumps over Jon Jones and becomes the greatest of all-time," White told Forbes. Pereira's rise has already been extraordinary. The former Glory Kickboxing champion joined the UFC in 2021 with minimal MMA experience, yet captured the middleweight title in just his eighth professional fight after defeating Israel Adesanya. He then moved to light heavyweight and defeated Jiri Prochazka to claim that belt in only three additional fights, before vacating to pursue heavyweight gold. No other UFC fighter has accomplished multi-division title success at this pace or across this many weight classes, making a victory over Gane a genuinely historic accomplishment in the sport.