Alex Pereira is vacating his title in the 205-pound division.
Subsequently, Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg will compete for the vacant light-heavyweight championship at the UFC 327 main event in Miami on April 11.
UFC president and CEO Dana White made the announcements Friday during a livestream on social media.
While it’s not been confirmed what Pereira will do after vacating his title, there’s been plenty of speculation that “Poatan” has his sights set on the heavyweight ranks. Should Pereria — also a former middleweight champion — move up and claim the heavyweight belt, he’d become the first three-division champion in UFC history.
The 38-year-old from Brazil was a two-weight kickboxing world champion before beginning mixed martial arts. He debuted in the UFC in 2021 and went 4-0 with stoppages of Sean Strickland and then Israel Adesanya en route to becoming the UFC’s 185-pound champ in 2022.
After losing his rematch with his old kickboxing rival Adesanya in 2023, Pereira moved up to 205 pounds. He won consecutive fights with one-time UFC champions Jan Blachowicz, Prochazka (for the title), Jamahal Hill, as well as perennial contender Khalil Rountree Jr., before losing the belt via decision to Magomed Ankalaev almost 12 months ago.
Pereira avenged that loss to Ankalaev this past October with a thrilling 80-second technical knockout at UFC 320.
Reigning UFC heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall remains out indefinitely with significant eye injuries stemming from a foul he received from Ciryl Gane in their UFC 321 title fight that ended in a no-contest due to Gane’s eye pokes on Aspinall.
Ulberg is a 13-1 pro on a nine-fight winning streak since losing his UFC debut five years ago. He was coming off consecutive wins over Oezdemir and Blachowicz before shining in his first UFC main event this past September when he knocked out Reyes in the opening round at a Fight Night in Perth, Australia.
The 35-year-old from New Zealand is the only top-five contender at 205 pounds that Pereira has yet to face and beat.
Prochazka is a former titleholder with an 18-2 record since 2015, with his two losses both coming in title fights with Pereira.
The 33-year-old Czech star knocked out Volkan Oezdemir in his debut, then Dominick Reyes and submitted Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 in June of 2022 to win the title. Unfortunately, a serious shoulder injury requiring surgery resulted in Prochazka choosing to vacate the title. He was stopped by Pereira in the second round at UFC 295 in November 2023 in his first bout back.
A Performance of the Night-winning victory over Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 300 earned him a rematch with Pereira, which he also lost in the second round. Since then, he has knocked out Hill and Rountree to maintain his spot as the No. 2-ranked contender in the division.
UFC 327 has a co-main event of Joshua Van vs. Tatsuro Taira in a men’s flyweight title bout, and features a pair of notable 205-pound matchups.
Reyes is on the card, facing Johnny Walker, and unbeaten Russian standout striker Azamat Murzakanov is taking on Paulo Costa.
Meanwhile, White added that he will announce the main White House fight “this week.”
Other fights added to the UFC 327 card:
No. 12 Beneil Dariush vs. Manuel Torres at lightweight
No. 12 Patricio Pitbull vs. Aaron Pico at featherweight
No. 7 Mateusz Gamrot vs. Esteban Ribovics at lightweight
Cub Swanson vs. Nate Landwehr at featherweight
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Vicente Luque at middleweight
No. 2 Tatiana Suarez vs. No. 6 Loopy Godinez at women’s strawweight
Christopher Alvidrez vs. Francisco Prado at welterweight
