Alex Pereira vacates UFC title, Jiří Procházka vs. Carlos Ulberg set for vacant belt at UFC 327
Alex Pereira has vacated his UFC light heavyweight title, promotion CEO Dana White announced Friday on social media.
The vacant belt will now be up for grabs between former champion Jiří Procházka and Carlos Ulberg in the main event of UFC 327 on April 11. The event will take place at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
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UFC 327’s co-main event will be the already announced flyweight title fight between champion Joshua Van and challenger Tatsuro Taira. White announced several more fights Friday, including Curtis Blaydes vs. Josh Hokit and Beneil Dariush vs. Manuel Torres.
As for the UFC’s upcoming White House card, White said he would have more information this upcoming week.
Pereira vacating his title sets him up for a jump to the heavyweight division, where he could soon vie become the first three-division champion in UFC history. Heavyweight champ Tom Aspinall has not fought since last October, when he sustained a debilitating injury from a double eye-poke by challenger Ciryl Gane.
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It was in that same month when Pereira won his light heavyweight title back. Pereira first won the belt in 2023 and defended it three times before getting stunned by Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. He convincingly won the rematch with a first-round TKO at UFC 320, but later revealed he broke his foot in the process.
Pereira has said he is targeting a return in time for the White House card.
As for the new light heavyweight challengers, Procházka is getting his third shot at winning back a title he was forced to vacate in 2022 due to a shoulder injury. He has defeated all non-Pereira light heavyweights since coming back. Ulberg, meanwhile, is on a nine-fight win streak since losing his UFC debut in 2021. He defeated former challenger Dominick Reyes by first-round knockout in September.
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