Alex Pereira explains decision to move to heavyweight and face Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250

Alex Pereira's decision to chase championship glory in a third weight class of his UFC career was not a difficult one, according to the former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion.

Pereira will make his heavyweight debut at "UFC Freedom 250," the historic UFC event set to take place on the White House South Lawn on June 14. That night, Pereira will face Ciryl Gane for the interim heavyweight title. To make that fight happen, Pereira had to vacate his light heavyweight title, ending his second reign atop the 205-pound division.

"They made everything smooth," Pereira said via an interpreter on the "Ariel Helwani Show." "They asked what I wanted to do, and then I just said I wanted to go to heavyweight. I saw my weight, saw that I could do it. And I know they don't like when you hold the division [up], so I basically let go of my belt. I didn't know who or when I was going to fight, I just knew it was going to be at heavyweight, and I let it go and came up.

"Honestly, it was a pretty easy choice. When I expressed myself that I wanted to go up, of course, I had to let go of the belt. They gave me a new contract. I'm really, really happy with my new contract."

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Pereira started his UFC career at middleweight, taking just four fights to capture the 185-pound championship from former kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya. The win over Adesanya was just Pereira's eighth fight in mixed martial arts.

After dropping the belt back to Adesanya in the rematch, Pereira moved to light heavyweight, where he won the vacant title with a knockout of Jiri Prochazka in his second fight in the division. After four successful title defenses, Pereira dropped a decision to Magomed Ankalaev, only to win the belt back in the rematch, scoring a stoppage in just 80 seconds.

Despite the success he has had, and that he believes he could still make 205 pounds, Pereira said the move to heavyweight is one that should stick.

"I could make light heavyweight again, but this is not something that is new for me," Pereira said. "Many guys just go on the heat of the moment. They jump a weight class, and then they lose, they come back. I've been expressing for a long time that I've been wanting to fight at heavyweight, so I think I'll probably stay around."

Pereira also believes that defeating Gane to capture the interim title would set up a fight with Jon Jones, which is a bout both Pereira and Jones have repeatedly expressed interest in making happen.

"I believe [a fight with Jones] happens, because he has to be released from the UFC [to fight someone else]," Pereira said. "I don't think the UFC is going to release him anytime soon. So, if he wants to fight, who is it going to be against? It's going to be against me."