Alex Pereira is one in every of MMA’s greatest stars.
It’s loopy to suppose that just some quick years in the past, the previous two-division GLORY Kickboxing champion was simply one other prospect trying to transition from one fight sport to a different. However because the wins began to stack up for the Brazilian boogeyman, the UFC may see that they’d one thing really particular on their palms
Quick ahead to 2025 and ‘Poatan’ is a bonafide celebrity. A former middleweight world champion and the reigning UFC gentle heavyweight king.
Throughout a latest look on the JAXXON podcast with Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Pereira shared that after upon a time, he was an aspiring footballer, however in the end pivoted to the combat sport after admitting to himself that he simply wasn’t that good at his nation’s favourite sport.
However soccer wasn’t the one factor Pereira had to surrender in pursuit of a profession in combating.
“I used to drink a lot, drink a lot. And man, I said, ‘Sports save lives.’ Football is huge in Brazil, but I was always bad at playing,” Pereira mentioned. “So I thought, ‘When I was a kid, I liked to fight, getting into street brawls.’ Then I said to myself, ‘I think fighting might be interesting for me.’ That’s when I discovered kickboxing. Real talk—I had to stop drinking first. I drank too much.”
Alex Pereira goes for his fourth 205-pound title protection at UFC 313
2024 was a banner yr for Alex Pereira. He efficiently defended his gentle heavyweight title 3 times, scoring a trio of knockouts towards Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree Jr.
Subsequent, he’ll look to notch a fourth straight protection when he meets the division’s top-ranked contender, Magomed Ankalaev, at UFC 313 on March 8 when the promotion heads again to the acquainted confines of T-Cellular Enviornment in Las Vegas.
