Alex Pereira, despite his age, is one of the most exciting prospects in the UFC. The buzz around ‘Poatan’ stems from his impressive kickboxing career, which saw him go 40-7 and win multiple Glory titles.
Another source of interest in the UFC newcomer is who he defeated in kickboxing (twice). Pereira boasts the distinction of being the only guy to beat Israel Adesanya, the current UFC middleweight champion. In 2017, he did this at Glory of Heroes 7. Pereira had already defeated Adesanya by unanimous decision at Glory of Heroes the year before.
Since returning to MMA in 2020, Pereira has had a lot of success. Since then, he has had two devastating stoppages under his belt: a thunderous KO at LFA in 2020 and a flying knee over Andreas Michailidis in his UFC debut last year.
Pereira has performed as predicted thus far, and many fans are looking forward to seeing him fight his way to a third fight with Adesanya. As if it wasn’t thrilling enough, there appears to be some lingering hatred between the two.
Pereira recently discussed Adesanya with PVT. And he wasn’t bashful about expressing his emotions.
Pereira’s Interview:
“I don’t know if with his friends, right, with the people close to him, he’s that arrogant guy, that annoying guy, because every time I met the guy, it was all that arrogance, that ego, he was always like that,” said Pereira.
“Since our first fight in China, he was a guy who pissed me off a lot, from the weigh-in to the fight. Even losing, when there was the rematch here in Brazil he made a post that I don’t really remember, but it was something like ‘I’ll have to beat Pereira in his backyard and then run out of the favela’. It was something like that, right?”
After knocking out Adesanya in their rematch in Brazil, Pereira said he ran into ‘The Last Stylebender’ outside the arena.
“I only saw him at the weigh-in and the fight. After the fight I saw him crying outside in Ibirapuera. Sitting on a low wall with his trainer – that’s it.”
Pereira will have to deliver on March 12 if he intends to recreate that situation. That’s when he’ll make his second appearance in the Octagon. He’ll meet fellow Brazilian Bruno Silva at UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Ankalaev.
Also Read:Vanessa Demopoulos walked away from Stripping to pursue professional MMA Career
