Alex Pereira Aims for Third UFC Belt at Madison Square Garden
Alex Pereira has never been shy about chasing history. Now he wants to do it on the sport’s grandest indoor stage, against the man who just beat him.
The former two-division UFC champion has set his sights on a rematch with interim heavyweight titleholder Ciryl Gane — and he wants it at Madison Square Garden.
Pereira Aims for Third UFC Belt
Gane stopped Pereira in June at UFC Freedom 250 to capture the interim heavyweight belt and book a unification clash with reigning champion Tom Aspinall. That was supposed to be the next chapter at the top of the division.
Injury ripped that script apart.
Aspinall remains sidelined, with no clear timetable for his return. The heavyweight title picture has stalled, and the UFC is looking for ways to keep the division from drifting. One option stands out: run back Gane vs. Pereira, with the interim belt still on the line.
Pereira is all in.
Speaking to UFC Brasil, he laid out exactly what he wants and where he wants it — UFC 334 on November 14, the promotion’s annual New York City showcase at Madison Square Garden.
“I think that’s the fight that makes sense. I really want it to work out, I want to win that third belt. I think I’ve done a lot of things in the UFC, and I think I deserve to have those options. I’d come back at Madison Square Garden, me and Ciryl Gane. If it were up to me, that’s what I’d choose,” Pereira said.
A third UFC title. A return to the Garden. A chance to erase his most recent defeat. The stakes are obvious, and Pereira is pushing hard.
The Controversy That Won’t Go Away
On paper, the UFC doesn’t usually rush to book an immediate rematch for a fighter who was finished in an interim title fight. The promotion tends to move forward, not rewind.
This one is different.
The first Gane–Pereira bout came with a cloud over it. Gane hurt Pereira with shots that landed to the back of the head, illegal blows that sparked debate as soon as the fight ended. The finish stood, the belt changed hands, but the conversation never really stopped.
That controversy now gives the UFC a storyline and, crucially, a justification. This isn’t just a re-run. It’s unfinished business.
Combine that with Aspinall’s absence and the equation shifts. The heavyweight division can’t sit and wait indefinitely for the champion to heal. An interim belt exists for exactly this scenario, and Gane defending it against a star as big — and as ambitious — as Pereira keeps the weight class alive while the champion recovers.
So the pieces are there: a disputed ending, a sidelined champion, a hungry challenger chasing a third belt, and Madison Square Garden waiting in November.
The only question left is whether the UFC signs off and lets Pereira try to rewrite the story under the brightest lights in the sport.
