{"id":33679,"date":"2026-06-15T04:22:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/pereira-tips-scales-at-251-lbs-for-ufc-freedom-250-at-white-house\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T04:22:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T04:22:21","slug":"pereira-tips-scales-at-251-lbs-for-ufc-freedom-250-at-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/15\/pereira-tips-scales-at-251-lbs-for-ufc-freedom-250-at-white-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Pereira tips scales at 251 lbs for UFC Freedom 250 at White House"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<div class=\"byline-wrap\">\n<ul class=\"authors byline-authors\">\n<li class=\"single-author mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/i\/columnists\/full\/okamoto_brett.png&amp;h=80&amp;w=80&amp;scale=crop\" alt=\"\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Brett Okamoto<span class=\"timestamp \">Jun 13, 2026, 12:55 PM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\"><a class=\"icon-font-after icon-close-solid-after\" href=\"#\">Close<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN since 2010. He has covered all of the biggest events in combat sports during that time, including in-depth interviews and features with names such as Dana White, Khabib Nurmagomedov, Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Floyd Mayweather, Manny Pacquiao and Georges St-Pierre. He was also a producer on the 30 for 30 film: &#8220;Chuck and Tito,&#8221; which looked back at the careers and rivalry of Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz. He lives in Las Vegas, and is an avid, below-average golfer in his spare time.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Multiple Authors<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>WASHINGTON  &#8212; Former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion <a data-player-guid=\"69596ae1-6dea-3b39-8fcb-a6333019ca68\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4705658\/alex-pereira\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alex Pereira<\/a> weighed in at 251 pounds for his heavyweight debut on Sunday at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fightcenter\/_\/id\/600058854\/league\/ufc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UFC Freedom 250 at the White House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Pereira (13-3) is attempting to make history by becoming the first fighter to win belts in three different weight classes. The Brazilian faces <a data-player-guid=\"b2bfb778-01a5-a5f9-b95b-364ed305b363\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4426000\/ciryl-gane\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ciryl Gane<\/a> (13-2), who weighed in at 248 pounds, for the interim championship in the co-main event. The winner is expected to eventually face <a data-player-guid=\"29cb2c31-92b0-e697-4443-f5e6a48171d1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4010976\/tom-aspinall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tom Aspinall<\/a> for the undisputed title.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Picks<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Pereira&#8217;s weight is notable considering his previous reigns as a two-division champion at lower weight classes. He weighed 185 pounds when he won the middleweight title in November 2022 with a fifth-round TKO of <a data-player-guid=\"d8b87175-656c-6805-bc26-64325a566122\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4285679\/israel-adesanya\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Israel Adesanya<\/a> at UFC 281. A year later, Pereira moved up to 205 pounds and captured the light heavyweight belt with a second-round TKO of <a data-player-guid=\"38f1a6d3-8b45-3810-1323-1a9273ebfbd7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/3156612\/jiri-prochazka\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ji\u0159\u00ed Proch\u00e1zka<\/a> at UFC 295.<\/p>\n<p>UFC lightweight champion <a data-player-guid=\"7c7452e8-f7d0-bfa0-f6dd-61d531ad856e\" href=\"http:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4350812\/ilia-topuria\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ilia Topuria<\/a> (17-0) and interim champion <a data-player-guid=\"9eafa488-d359-4697-8978-d93ec761b4cf\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/3022345\/justin-gaethje\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Justin Gaethje<\/a> (27-5) each weighed 155 pounds for their title unification bout.<\/p>\n<p>In a unique situation, former featherweight title contender <a data-player-guid=\"640bd3e0-67af-3f11-8fbf-7859fd260f91\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4881999\/diego-lopes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Diego Lopes<\/a> weighed-in twice Saturday &#8212; at 146 and 154 pounds. Lopes is scheduled to face <a data-player-guid=\"f09000cb-5b3b-5070-e9df-24150b521222\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4237933\/steve-garcia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steve Garcia<\/a> in a 145-pound featherweight bout to open UFC Freedom 250. After about an hour rehydrating, Lopes weighed in at 154 pounds, putting on 9 pounds to toe the lightweight limit after being designated as the emergency backup for the Topuria-Gaethje showdown. The UFC had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/story\/_\/id\/48715365\/tsarukyan-named-backup-topuria-gaethje-ufc-white-house-card\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">originally planned<\/a> to make <a data-player-guid=\"82ae5838-e9af-fcd5-2d96-2bf2c9a44c4d\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/fighter\/_\/id\/4419372\/arman-tsarukyan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Arman Tsarukyan<\/a> a backup to the main event, but Tsarukyan was unavailable due to a freestyle wrestling match on Saturday in St. Louis.<\/p>\n<p>All 14 athletes set to compete on the historic event successfully made weight.<\/p>\n<p>According to UFC CEO Dana White, President Donald Trump came up with the initial idea of hosting a UFC event on the South Lawn. The event is taking place outside, and exact bout times are subject to change due to weather.<\/p>\n<p>White <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/story\/_\/id\/49046865\/ufc-award-record-fight-night-bonuses-white-house-event\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced Friday<\/a> that the historic event will feature the largest fight night bonuses ever, with $400,000 bonuses going to each participant in the best fight of the night, and two $425,000 bonuses being rewarded to the top individual performances of the night. Previously, the largest bonuses awarded were $300,000 at UFC 300 in April 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The high-profile card has been greeted with some skepticism, including a recent attempt by activists to halt UFC Freedom 250 over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/story\/_\/id\/48993111\/lawsuit-seeks-shut-ufc-white-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claims the event on White House grounds was unlawful<\/a>.  A federal judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/mma\/story\/_\/id\/49041836\/judge-oks-weekend-ufc-event-white-house\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">denied the emergency injunction application<\/a> on Friday, allowing the event to proceed.<\/p>\n<p>The seven-fight card will air on Paramount+.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brett OkamotoJun 13, 2026, 12:55 PM ET Close Brett Okamoto has reported on mixed martial arts and boxing at ESPN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/a3.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0613%2Fr1672421_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[214],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}