Alex Pereira’s move to heavyweight for the UFC White House card is already one of the most anticipated fights of the year, and the conversation has now shifted to how much the former light heavyweight champion could earn for the fight. With ‘Poatan’ set to go one-on-one against Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title on June 14, one UFC lightweight believes the payday could be among the biggest of the Brazilian’s career.

On the Show Me the Money Podcast, Grant Dawson was asked to speculate how much Alex Pereira may make for the fight, and his response suggested it could be close to eight figures.

“He’s making per fight, if you had to guess, five to ten?” Dawson replied. “Yeah, five. Five to ten. Closer to ten, probably. I would think so.”

The comment came while discussing the new contract Alex Pereira recently signed with the promotion. Grant Dawson also speculated that the UFC may be paying more to keep its top fighters happy, especially now that the business model has changed after the Paramount+ deal.

“I mean, Dustin Poirier was kind enough to share what he was making,” he said, before adding, “They probably did that because they want to keep him around because they’re not doing it on pay-per-view buys.”

His words referred to the shift away from the old PPV system, in which top fighters often received bonuses based on sales. Alex Pereira recently announced that he had signed a new multi-fight contract with the UFC ahead of the White House event and that he was highly pleased with the conditions, even agreeing to vacate his light heavyweight title to move up in weight.

The former two-division champion will now try to become the first fighter in UFC history to win titles in three divisions if he defeats Ciryl Gane. With the event set to be one of the biggest cards the promotion has ever held, it wouldn’t be surprising if Alex Pereira were earning one of the largest purses of his career.

However, it is worth noting that while ‘Poatan’ is receiving his career best to face Ciryl Gane, Jon Jones claims he wasn’t getting paid enough to go one-on-one against the Brazilian in a dream fight for the White House card. And to make things more interesting, even Joe Rogan has sided with ‘Bones’ on this one.

Joe Rogan sides with Jon Jones as Alex Pereira fight falls off due to ‘crazy’ offer

While Alex Pereira’s rumored payout shows the UFC’s willingness to spend on the White House card, Jon Jones’ situation seems to be very different. As previously said, the dream bout between Jon Jones and ‘Poatan’ never happened, and according to the heavyweight champion, the reason was simple: the money offered just wasn’t enough.

And before you know it, the situation swiftly turned into another feud between Jones and the promotion. During the recent Fight Companion live stream, Joe Rogan confirmed that the negotiations reportedly fell through over the fight purse.

“It was a money thing,” the UFC commentator said. “Jon was saying they wouldn’t budge over $15 million.”

And while Brendan Schaub believed Jon Jones is to blame for his own demise, as $15 million still sounds like a good deal to him, Joe Rogan disagreed. Especially considering the scale of the White House event and the fact that ‘Bones’ vs. Alex Pereira would likely have been the biggest fight on the card.

Joe Rogan also emphasized why he understood Jones’ frustration, pointing out how much value the former champion brings to a historic event like that.

“If he was going to get $30 million to fight Aspinall, half of that is kind of crazy,” he said. “He’s the greatest of all time, and he’s gonna make the White House card.

“If he makes the White House card, you’re like, ‘Oh s—! Jon Jones is back.’ The whole card completely changes.”

With Alex Pereira now set to face Ciryl Gane instead, the fight still headlines one of the biggest cards of the year, but the debate over what ‘Bones’ should have been paid continues to follow the event.