Another champion from the favelas. Another still forged fighter, born in 1987 and initially fighting for existence and for his life in the fierce streets of Sao Paolo’s mean streets. Started working at an age of 12 years old on a job position that normally is done by adult men. Pushing through life with everything he’s got. It was not until 2013 that he started transferring his fight onto the canvas.
Coming from kickboxing, Alex Pereira is one of the best kickboxers of his kickboxing era. Marking an incredible record of 33 wins and only 7 losses, people know him as one of the most dangerous kickboxers in the history of the sport.
Alex Pereira’s Path To The UFC Middleweight Title And Beating Israel Adesanya
Alex Pereira’s childhood is not what you’d consider a happy one. He was forced to drop out of middle school at an age of 12 years old. This marked the end of his education, as he never pursued any kind of diploma ever since.
“Well, I didn’t have a good quality of life, right? My father is a bricklayer and my mother is a housewife.” – the new champion told at a recent podcast. “And I started working very young. In a tire shop, I was just 12 years old. At 12 years old I was doing an adult job, got it?”
At this age, living in poverty, his only wish and his only dream are to buy something as essential as a bike, or a small car. However, instead of doing that, he acquired an addiction. The favelas are full of addicts who in their struggle to accomplish a better life get stuck in the numerous vices that are thrown their way. Addiction to alcohol – that was the one that Alex Pereira got in his early years. The Brazilian started drinking heavily and kept on this vice full life until 2009. The year he decided he wants to straighten his life and become a professional athlete.
Alex Pereira held on to kickboxing as on to therapy. It helped him focus on something different, something that doesn’t destroy him. He found salvation in it. As he saw what he is able to accomplish with it, he started getting better and better. He had something to strive for and something to fight for. The Poatan literally fought for his life.
The path off of alcohol is not an easy one. Alex Pereira most probably knows this best. Even though he started his career and saw that he had potential, it didn’t take him long to get back to his vices. After a couple of professional fights in kickboxing, he started drinking heavily again. This is the period when he had three lost matches in a row.
Seeing that the alcohol would ruin his career, and most probably his life, Alex Pereira decided to take a step back once again. Realizing his potential and his pure punching power, he fought alcoholism once more. It is just that this time, he succeeded to do it for good.
“Afterwards, I was training a lot, but drinking a little, right? There was a change, but it still wasn’t enough, you know?” – Alex Pereira continued. “Then some things bothered me. I thought ‘man, I have to stop drinking now.’ If I don’t stop, I’ll be nobody.”
Just as you already know, from this point on, Alex Pereira became unstoppable. He fought, and in the course of two years, he managed to win over Israel Adesanya two times. He started stringing success and became one of the most feared fighters in kickboxing.
Only five years into his professional kickboxing career, in 2014, Alex Pereira managed to take home the ‘Glory’ middleweight gold. As soon as he experienced the thrill of being in the first place, his thirst for success grew more and more. In a short period of time, Alex Pereira managed to meet with his rival Israel Adesanya two times and managed to defend his title five times.
Having nothing more to prove in the middleweight division, Alex Pereira felt like he can do more. To prove he is the best pound-for-pound fighter he stepped up to the light heavyweight division and won an interim divisional gold. A couple of months after this, he managed to take home the undisputed light heavyweight gold and become a two-division champ in kickboxing.
Kickboxing fans consider this to be the peak of Alex Pereira’s kickboxing career. He was a well-rounded striker with one of the most feared left hooks in the game. At this point, Alex Pereira has built up an impressive kickboxing record. However, the kickboxing audience remembers him as the first kickboxing champion ever, to hold on to two belts simultaneously.
The fierce Brazilian has an impressive resume when it comes to opponents whom he won against. Israel Adesanya is just one of them. And even though Adesanya became a very popular name in UFC, Alex Pereira marked his biggest success in kickboxing after his clashes with the UFC fighter. By the time Alex Pereira decided to move out of kickboxing in 2021, he held a high place in the pound-for-pound rankings and people regarded him as the best middleweight and light heavyweight fighter on the planet.
The first time that Alex Pereira dominated Israel Adesanya was back in 2016. They met at the Glory of Heroes 1 event, in a three-round bout, fighting on the main card. However, this first time, Alex Pereira didn’t accomplish what he wanted. Even though he had the win, Pereira felt like he can do more and win by a knockout.
The second time that the legendary duo met was one year later. They met at the Glory of Heroes 15 event, fighting on the main card again. Both fighters came ready to correct what they thought they didn’t do right the previous time. However, only one accomplished it. Alex Pereira knocked out Israel Adesanya and swiped away all doubt that people had in him.
This loss made Israel Adesanya seek his career elsewhere. He retired from kickboxing and started his UFC career. As you know, ever since 2018 he started dominating the octagon. He won over almost everyone that got in his way. He obtained the UFC middleweight title in 2019 with an amazing KO. Israel Adesanya delivered a single brutal left hook counter punch in the second round and sent Robert Whittaker straight to the canvas.
Ever since Israel Adesanya seemed unstoppable. He had six successful title defenses until this day. The day he feared the most. The day when he met with Alex Pereira once more.
Throughout the years, Alex Pereira took on some MMA fights in between his kickboxing bouts, just so he can get a sense of what he lacks in order to become a successful MMA fighter.
It was clear, he did lack much. He had a lot of work to do. At his MMA debut at 21 years old, Alex Pereira, relatively unskilled in MMA recorded his first MMA loss. He had many areas where he needed to massively improve, in order to become a complete MMA fighter. This became clear when the fight went on the ground. His lack of experience in this type of situation made him lose the bout by submission.
The true warrior that Alex Pereira is, this didn’t discourage him or make him quit his dreams. Quite on the contrary, he started training to become good on the ground as well. That’s why he took on two MMA fights in his hometown of Sao Paolo in Brazil. He won them both by a knockout, making it clear, he is in MMA to seek success.
He fought for the LFA in 2020 where he scored a first-round knockout which earned the attention of Dana White. As soon as Dana White noticed Alex Pereira and his history with the current UFC middleweight champion, it was clear – he wanted him in the UFC. He put his hands on the fighter and lobbied his way to the UFC middleweight division.
Alex Pereira made a complete transition to Mixed Martial Arts in 2021 and he started off his serious MMA career in the UFC. His way to the title shot is one of the fastest. He had only three UFC matches where he has shown great potential, and that was enough for the MMA Gods to gift him the shot at the title. A shot against one of his former opponents, the broken native Israel Adesanya.
This Saturday, the 12th of November, Alex Pereira closed another chapter in his career. He is now the new UFC middleweight champion of the world. The Poatan shocked the world and did what many thought to be impossible. He managed to score a standing TKO stoppage against Israel Adesanya in the third minute of the fifth round of their bout.
Israel Adesanya showed great skill throughout the whole bout as well. He had it winning according to all of the judges scoring cards. Izzy outstruck Alex Pereira in all rounds of the fight. He even scored a takedown in the third round, something that is not characteristic of the Stylebender. However, he didn’t manage to last long enough to hear the bell ring at the end of the fifth round.
Both fighters entered the fifth round very exhausted from the long four rounds. They managed to fill the rounds with nonstop action and numerous exchanged strikes. But, Alex Pereira took the best of it, as he showed off a great will and reserve of strength that he kept on for the final round. Thanks to this, he managed to pick up the first TKO win of his career, a win over his long-time nemesis, Israel Adesanya.
As soon as the first round bell rang, both fighters started very precociously. They tested their reach and recalled one another’s flaws and weaknesses. This game of trying out almost cost Alex Pereira his win. At the end of the round, Israel Adesanya managed to deliver a fast jab followed by a powerful hook to Alex Pereira’s face. This managed to stun Pereira and remind him that he is fighting the middleweight champion. However, this didn’t last for long.
Alex Pereira built some momentum as the rounds passed away. Israel Adesanya most certainly felt this, as he became more defensive. This culminated in the third round, when out of nowhere, and most probably out of panic because he was unable to do anything else, he scored his first UFC takedown. The duo spent most of the third round on the canvas, with Adesanya controlling the situation. This gained him many points, scoring the third round in his favor unanimously.
It seemed like the disastrous third round took its toll on Alex Pereira. He let Adesanya keep his momentum and transfer it to the fourth round. It most certainly looked like Israel Adesanya is on his way to a decision win against his long-time nemesis. However, this changed in the middle of the final round.
In the fifth round, the Poatan decided to reach for his final stored power and unleash a series of punches that would stun Israel Adesanya, and finally, send him to the ground. It became clear that the Poatan is several punches away from becoming the new UFC middleweight champion. And of course, when he realized it, he unloaded a series of unblocked punches to Izzy’s head that made the referee stop the fight, putting an end to Israel Adesanya’s reign in the middleweight division.
“I feel so good, been training all my life, worked so hard for this it was written. I’m sorry to everybody that I had to post some stuff, do a little bit of trash talk this time but it was healthy and I had to get into his head to get on this fight.” – Alex Pereira told Joe Rogan in the post-fight interview.