UFC president Dana White is aware of Eddie Alvarez’s recent criticism of interim titles.

UFC 236 will feature two interim title bouts. In the main event, featherweight champion Max Holloway will move up a division to take on Dustin Poirier for the interim lightweight gold. The co-main event will see middleweights Kelvin Gastelum and Israel Adesanya compete for the 185-pound interim title.

Alvarez, who is a former UFC lightweight champion now signed with ONE Championship, recently called interim titles a “sick joke.” White addressed those comments during the UFC 236 press conference:

“Everybody who is up here today, whoever wins that belt, they move into the title fight. And I saw some talk the other day from Eddie Alvarez. I like Eddie, I have a great relationship with Eddie, but he was talking about how, you give interim titles so you don’t have to pay the guys so much or some weird comment like that. “When you win the interim title belt, you’re looked at as the titleholder. So when you go into a title fight, both guys share in the pay-per-view revenue. If you’re a contender without the interim title, you don’t. So, there’s nothing bad about holding an interim belt going into a title fight.”

UFC 236 will be held inside the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Some other bouts announced for the card include Eryk Anders vs. Khalil Rountree and Ovince Saint Preux vs. Nikita Krylov.