UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier has accidently ‘leaked’ Alex Pereira‘s pay ahead of his heavyweight debut on the UFC Freedom 250 card at the White House and the Brazilian is seemingly being paid a staggering sum.

‘Poatan’ is seeking to make UFC history when he steps into the Octagon on the South Lawn on Sunday night. Already previously a champion at middleweight and light heavyweight, Pereira is stepping up to challenge for the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship at the White House.

The 38-year-old will square off with France’s Ciryl Gane in the evening’s co-main event for interim gold, with the winner moving on to challenge full champion Tom Aspinall next.

Alex Pereira Could Make UFC History at the White House

Should Pereira walk away with the title on Sunday night, he will become the only fighter in history to win a UFC championship in three separate weight classes. However, regardless of the result at the White House, he is apparently set to bank a considerable sum.

Cormier leaked Pereira’s pay while trying to agree a wager with the much-loved fighter on the ongoing 2026 World Cup. High on the chances of his native Brazil, Alex tried to convince American Cormier to have a $20,000 bet on the Selecao getting further in the tournament than the USA.

‘DC’ wasn’t happy with the bet size and eventually bargained Pereira down to a $10,000 wager, before declaring that Alex was going to be the highest-paid of all the 14 fighters on this Sunday’s card.

Alex Pereira’s UFC White House Pay ‘Leaked’

Pereira was reported to have made just over $3.5 million for his last fight, where he knocked out Magomed Ankalaev inside a round to regain the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.

Per Cormier, Alex is set to earn a far larger sum for his fight with Gane this weekend.

“He’s the only one at the White House making $10 million!” Cormier insisted. Pereira smiled when he heard the comment, but never tried to deny it.

The jump in salary is a significant one, but UFC CEO Dana White has already confirmed a massive increase in fight night bonuses for the White House card.

Speaking at Friday’s final press conference, Dana announced that two participants in the Fight of the Night would receive $400,000 each, while Performance of the Night winners are in line to receive $425,000 each.

For all other UFC cards, both bonuses are capped at $100,000 each, having recently been bumped up from $50,000.

Considering his fearsome string ability, Pereira will be among one of the favourites to take home a performance bonus, potentially adding to what will already be a lucrative payday.

John Terry has never been shy about sharing his opinions, and his verdict on England’s World Cup squad was vintage Terry. Blunt, confident, and guaranteed to get people talking.

The Champions League winner has shared his thoughts on numerous occasions on a range of topics. He’s been outspoken on how he doesn’t even think Lionel Messi is the greatest Argentine player ever, let alone the best footballer ever, and during Enzo Maresca’s short-lived reign at his beloved Chelsea, he criticised the Italian’s tactics and his habits surrounding squad rotation.

Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored alongside Simon Jordan, the former Chelsea captain made a bold claim: That only four England players are truly world-class. It’s a take that’s sure to get the conversation going among fans of the Three Lions.

The Four England Players John Terry Trusts

The quartet Terry did single out represents the spine of what England should be built around this summer. Jude Bellingham has been described as a generational talent who hadn’t even turned 20 before he became one of the best midfielders in the world. Declan Rice has developed into exactly that too, a commanding box-to-box force whose influence over Arsenal’s Premier League title win and Champions League final run has been nothing short of impeccable.

Reece James, when fit, offers a level of quality at right-back that few nations in the World Cup can match, often working in an inverted role and getting involved with the attack in a way that few players can do, whilst displaying strength and discipline when called on defensively.

And Harry Kane, for all the noise around England’s system and how they’re predicted to set up, remains one of the most lethal finishers England has ever produced. Terry described his importance when responding to Morgan’s question over how reliant the Three Lions are on the Bayern Munich man:

Watch the discussion about England’s world-class four (12:40 onwards):

John Terry Doesn’t Consider Bukayo Saka “World Class”

Toby Melville via Reuters

The elephant in the room, though, is Arsenal winger Bukayo Saka. When pressed by both Morgan and Jordan on why Saka didn’t make his world-class cut, Terry’s reasoning came down to his end-of-season output, suggesting the winger didn’t quite hit the levels expected of someone in that bracket, whilst at least acknowledging his injury struggles. It was a reserved critique rather than a dismissal, but a critique nonetheless.

What made it more nuanced was what followed. Morgan put it to Terry that when Saka is at his best, he’s as good as anyone in his position in the world. Terry agreed, but only went as far as “potentially.” Not a no, but far from a yes. It suggested Terry sees Saka as a player on the cusp of that level rather than one who’s firmly established himself there.

Whether or not the world-class label strictly applies is, in some ways, beside the point. What Terry’s comments do is frame exactly where the bar sits, and for Saka, the 2026 World Cup may well be his chance to clear it.

So much of the 2026 World Cup story so far has unfortunately been about Gianni Infantino. The FIFA president has spent the entire build-up playing sycophant to United States President Donald Trump, even though Canada and Mexico are also co-hosts for the tournament.

Despite that, he’s been unable or unwilling to get Trump to soften his intensive border control restrictions and open up the door for all those – players, fans, staff, and officials – connected to World Cup nations to enter the US. One of many examples saw Somali referee Omar Artan turned away upon arriving in Miami, despite having a visa to come into the country.

In response to the criticism, the ever-unpopular Infantino did not help his cause when he told the journalist to ‘chill, relax.’ The Swiss-born 56-year-old has been FIFA president since 2016 and has long had his detractors, with one of those being football legend Diego Maradona.

Diego Maradona Quit FIFA Legends Role After Dispute With Gianni Infantino

Maradona is best remembered for his iconic performances at the 1986 World Cup, as he led Argentina to glory in Mexico. His two league titles in Italy with Napoli, as well as trophy-winning spells with Barcelona and Boca Juniors, helped cement his place as one of the greatest players in football history.

Having such a high status within the sport, Maradona was part of the FIFA Legends team. However, in 2019, the Argentine great quit his role on the programme, blaming mistreatment from Infantino.

Indeed, the former Napoli man – who passed away in 2020 at the age of 60 – spoke with great anger about the FIFA president. He claimed he was treated like a ‘dog’ and consequently resigned on the spot:

Maradona then took aim at FIFA’s deputy general secretary Zvonimir Boban (who resigned later that year for unrelated reasons), challenging him to a fight. The Argentine was unhappy after an alleged misunderstanding between himself and Boban at the hotel where members of the FIFA Legends programme were staying.

Maradona slammed Infantino for sending Boban to deal with the issue, saying: “I would like to say to Boban that if he wants to look good, let’s go to a (boxing) ring. He shouldn’t have come to the hotel and got angry.

“The worst part is that Boban was sent by someone. And this someone is Infantino. I am not a 20-year-old kid, I am 58. It hurts me because I believed in these people. Now I don’t believe them anymore.”

Maradona Felt Infantino Was Just as Bad For FIFA as Sepp Blatter

At the time, 2019, Infantino had been in charge of FIFA for three years. The administrator had taken over from former president Sepp Blatter in 2016, who departed amid controversy. Indeed, Blatter had been banned from football for six years in 2015 by the world governing body’s own ethics committee for approving a £1.3m payment to UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011.

The ruling also meant that Platini withdrew from the race to become FIFA president, allowing Infantino to take the crown. Fast-forward to 2026, and a recent criminal complaint has now been made against the currrent FIFA boss, in which it’s claimed that Infantino and others “worked to exclude [Platini] from the race for the presidency of FIFA”.

Amid these allegations of shady behaviour, it’s eye-opening to see Maradona’s remarks about

Infantino at the time. Perhaps most notably, in 2019, he claimed that FIFA had not ‘changed a bit’ since the departure of Blatter and the arrival of Infantino:

A decade into Infantino’s presidency, some would argue not only have things not got better since the days of Blatter, but they’ve got even worse. World Cup games, for example, have become essentially unaffordable for the average fan. Indeed, a category one ticket for the final cost about $1000 in Qatar 2022, but will now set supporters back over $6000 in 2026.