Alex Pereira has now gained the UFC gentle heavyweight title twice. With a report of 13 wins and three losses, Alex has claimed three UFC titles and defeated a complete of seven champions. He’s now the third two-time gentle heavyweight champion, becoming a member of one of the vital unique golf equipment in MMA. The one factor extra uncommon than changing into a champion is doing it twice.
The primary individual to realize this within the gentle heavyweight division was Randy Couture, who defeated Vitor Belfort at UFC 49 in 2004. After that, there was a 14-year hole till Jon Jones regained his title, which had been stripped. He reclaimed it by defeating Alexander Gustafsson.
Alex Pereira has now knocked out the person who beforehand beat him in only one minute and twenty seconds of the primary spherical, including one other chapter to his already solidified MMA legacy.
UFC’s Two-Time Champions
Within the fashionable belt period of the UFC, solely 18 folks have ever gained a championship twice. Randy Couture stands out, even in right now’s UFC. Not solely is Randy the oldest champion the game has ever seen, however he’s the one athlete within the promotion’s historical past to turn into a two-time champion in two separate divisions — each gentle heavyweight and heavyweight. This can be a feat which will go down as essentially the most unbreakable report in UFC historical past.
The heavyweight division is residence to a number of two-time champs. Tim Sylvia, Cain Velasquez, and Stipe Miocic are the opposite three males who’ve secured the belt twice on this division. All had been feared of their time and revered by friends and followers alike. Being the baddest man on the planet twice is a terrifying achievement.
Middleweight has just one two-time champion, Israel Adesanya, who joined the membership by defeating Alex Pereira of their 2023 rematch at UFC 287. This marked Pereira’s final bout at middleweight earlier than completely shifting as much as gentle heavyweight, the place he’s now on his second reign as undisputed champion.
Welterweight options one of many earliest members of the two-time champions membership, none aside from Georges “Rush” St-Pierre. He claimed his second welterweight title in a rematch towards Matt Serra. Serra had knocked out Georges in what many nonetheless contemplate the best upset in UFC historical past. St-Pierre avenged the loss with a second-round TKO.
Featherweight has just one consultant on this elite group: Jose Aldo Jr. The Corridor of Fame Brazilian fighter gained his second undisputed title when he beat Frankie Edgar at UFC 200, after Conor McGregor vacated the title to pursue the light-weight crown.
Bantamweight options two males whose preventing fates have been deeply related — Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw. Cruz regained his championship after defeating TJ following a protracted harm layoff. TJ, in an identical coincidence, later gained the belt from Cody Garbrandt, the identical fighter who had taken it from Cruz. These two legends wouldn’t be members of this membership with out one another.
The one members of the two-time champions membership who earned their standing by buying and selling the belt backwards and forwards are Brandon Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo within the flyweight division. They fought in the one quadrilogy in UFC historical past, with every man claiming victory and championship gold throughout their rivalry.
The ladies’s divisions have a mixed 5 members within the two-time champions membership. Amanda Nunes, Rose Namajunas, Zhang Weili, and Carla Esparza have all cemented themselves as legends inside their respective weight lessons.
Lower than two % of fighters in UFC historical past have turn into two-time champions. That small quantity represents greater than only a statistic — it displays the uncommon mixture of talent, resilience, and greatness required to climb the mountain twice. In a sport outlined by moments, changing into a two-time champion is a legacy that point can not erase.
