Topuria Returns After 17-0 Run to Face Gaethje, Eyeing 170 if He Wins

Q: With two fighters aiming for a third title, who will make UFC history first on the White House lawn?

Alex Pereira is the fighter who can make UFC history first on the White House lawn. The reason is straightforward: Pereira is actually fighting for a title in a third weight class at UFC Freedom 250. In the co-main event, the former middleweight and light heavyweight champion faces Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight belt. A win would make him the first fighter in UFC history to capture championships in three divisions. Ilia Topuria is also central to the “third title” conversation, but not on Sunday night. Topuria, already a two-division champion, is defending and unifying the lightweight title against interim champion Justin Gaethje in the main event. If he wins, the speculation is that he could later move up to welterweight and chase a third belt, but that opportunity is not on the line at the White House card. That makes Pereira’s bout the immediate history-making attempt, while Topuria’s path remains hypothetical and dependent on future matchmaking. Expert opinion in the lead-up has reinforced that distinction: Dustin Poirier and Michael Chiesa both discussed Topuria’s long-term upside at 170 pounds, but the searched reporting consistently identifies Pereira as the one with the live chance to become the UFC’s first three-division champion on this event. So if history is made Sunday in that specific sense, Pereira has the first opportunity to do it.

3 articles · Updated · MMA Junkie · Jun 13

Ilia Topuria is set to end a lengthy layoff in Sunday’s UFC Freedom 250 main event, where the unbeaten lightweight champion will meet interim titleholder Justin Gaethje to unify the 155-pound belts.
Topuria enters at as much as a 6-1 favorite, but Dustin Poirier said Gaethje still has a realistic upset path and also weighed how the inactivity could affect Topuria’s return.
A victory could quickly reshape Topuria’s plans beyond lightweight, with talk already building that he may not stay at 155 pounds and could pursue a move to welterweight at 170.
That jump would put Topuria on a path toward a third UFC title, a feat no fighter in promotion history has achieved, with Alex Pereira also in position to chase it Saturday.