Does Alex Pereira’s Contract Include a Clause for UFC 301?

Brazilian ace Alex Pereira is set to put his title up for grabs against Jamahal Hill in the UFC 300 headliner. Meanwhile, ‘Poatan’ also put pen to paper on a new UFC contract just over a month ago. The new contract has seemingly spurred speculations surrounding a potential being added, which we will take a look at today.

Pereira’s rise to fame in the UFC is one of the most unique journeys that any MMA fighter has ever had. After dominating the world of kickboxing, which built the foundation of his rivalry with Israel Adesanya, the Sao Paulo native achieved UFC gold in two separate weight classes in just seven fights. This helped him land another contract with Dana White‘s promotion but at an expense.

Alex Pereira lands an 8-fight deal but he will miss UFC 301

Alex Pereira’s new contract includes eight more fights under the UFC banner. There was no doubt that Dana White would like to retain the Brazilian in the roster, considering he’s been a main eventer and a headliner for his promotion for quite a while. However, Pereira will miss out on one event, which seems to mean a lot to him, UFC 301. That pay-per-view will take place in ‘Poatan’s native country of Brazil and in a revelation during an edition of ‘The MMA Hour‘, the light heavyweight champion came clean about the fact that the fight against Jamahal Hill was supposed to take place after UFC 300.

“The original verbal agreement not signed was to fight the 301 in Brazil, main event, Jamahal Hill,” stated Alex Pereira’s translator. “Few days ago they call and his manager call us and say that they were asking for him to headline UFC 300.” Although it wasn’t UFC 301, the chance to fight at the historic UFC 300 PPV appeared to be a lucrative option for ‘Poatan’ and he agreed to fight Jamahl Hill on April 13.

“He liked the idea [of headlining UFC 300]. I think it’s perfect timing for him to be prepared for it so he just jumped in,” Pereira’s translator added. However, the light heavyweight champion later revealed that was serious about fighting at UFC 301 and announced that he was going to fight in back-to-back PPVs, raining speculations of a potential clause in place in his new UFC deal.

UFC veteran claims clause in place for Pereira’s deal while former champion refutes

In a recent edition of the ‘Weighing In‘ podcast, former UFC fighter and Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson discussed Alex Pereira’s upcoming fight against Jamahal Hill, while discussing his contract deals. He mentioned certain reports claiming that the new deal signed by the light heavyweight champion may have a clause in his contract that allows him to fight in back-to-back PPVs, which is the same thing that Alex Pereira mentioned he wanted to do.

“Apparently that was part of his contract negotiation. If he gets the win, and he comes out healthy that he’s allowed to fight on that card. Yeah, that was part of I guess apparently his agreement to fighting on 300,” said Josh Thompson. However, Alex Pereira’s opponent Jamahl Hill does not think that’s the case. During an interview with Michael Bisping, ‘Sweet Dreams’ claimed that the UFC does not operate that way.

“Bro, they don’t do clauses like that, you know. Imagine telling Hunter and Dana, hey put this in my contract. They’ll say that like we’ll see. Most of them will tell you was like, ‘We’ll see what happens if you get through this. We’ll see what happens’. But there’s no clause,” Hill stated.

There is still no clear word on what the inner details of Alex Pereira’s UFC contract are. However, the UFC champion is not worried about the quick turnaround from UFC 300 to UFC 301. He has done that in his kickboxing days and doesn’t see any reason why he can’t do that again. We will have to wait and see how this story develops in the days to come.

Read More: UFC 300: Israel Adesanya Shows Jamahal Hill the Only Way to Beat Alex Pereira; Fans React to Ex-LHW Champ’s Clip