Pereira tips scales at 251 lbs for UFC Freedom 250 at White House - ESPN

WASHINGTON — Former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira weighed in at 251 pounds for his heavyweight debut on Sunday at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House.

Pereira (13-3) is attempting to make history by becoming the first fighter to win belts in three different weight classes. The Brazilian faces Ciryl Gane (13-2), who weighed in at 248 pounds, for the interim championship in the co-main event. The winner is expected to eventually face Tom Aspinall for the undisputed title.

Pereira'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 Israel Adesanya at UFC 281. A year later, Pereira moved up to 205 pounds and captured the light heavyweight belt with a second-round TKO of Jiří Procházka at UFC 303.

UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria (17-0) and interim champion Justin Gaethje (27-5) each weighed 155 pounds for their title unification bout.

In a unique situation, former featherweight title contender Diego Lopes weighed-in twice Saturday — at 146 and 154 pounds. Lopes is scheduled to face Steve Garcia 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 originally planned to make Arman Tsarukyan a backup to the main event, but Tsarukyan was unavailable due to a freestyle wrestling match on Saturday in St. Louis.

All 14 athletes set to compete on the historic event successfully made weight.

According to UFC CEO Dana White, President Donald