Alex Pereira‘s meteoric rise to the top of the UFC middleweight division is unprecedented. However, ‘Poatan’ had to overcome many obstacles outside the combat sports realm before he could achieve championship glory.
From his humble beginnings in the favelas of Sao Paulo to laying hands on UFC gold, Alex Pereira’s journey has been truly inspirational.
Pereira left middle school at the age of 12 to get a job in a tire shop. He became an alcoholic after being heavily influenced by his coworkers to start drinking. In 2009, he decided to try kickboxing as a means to break his habit.
MMA fans got a glimpse of the unfavorable times for ‘Poatan’ in a video posted by MMA Uncensored.
Watch the clip below:
The video aroused sympathy and reverence from fans who praised Alex Pereira in the comments section. One fan claimed that Pereira lost his smile en route to the back-breaking journey to becoming a champion:
“The sport took his smile. The sweet sacrifice.”
Another fan claimed to be inspired by ‘Poatan’s journey:
“Real motivation right there…. Love him or hate him. You got to respect him.”
Others couldn’t help but simply be happy for the newly crowned UFC middleweight champion:
“Man stuff like this makes me happy. So cool to see someone come from humble beginnings, work their assess off and then become world champions. Happy for him.”
Check out some of the best reactions below:
Israel Adesanya on Alex Pereira’s “gangster” walkout at UFC 281
Alex Pereira stole the show at the UFC 281 ceremonial weigh-ins, dawning a tribal look and carrying it with aplomb, adding to the intensity leading up to the highly anticipated championship headliner. Despite his two wins over Israel Adesanya in the kickboxing ring, ‘Poatan’ entered the bout as the betting underdog.
Moments before the fight, Adesanya walked out to the iconic score from Saw, keeping with his horror movie theme throughout fight week. Pereira stuck with his signature entrance of impersonating a hunter with a bow and arrow.
Adesanya couldn’t help but acknowledge Pereira’s entrance on a recent episode of the FLAGRANT podcast, claiming that the whole routine was “beautiful”:
“That’s beautiful. That’s a gangster f**king entrance. And like I said, the costumes, the villainary of it, but now I know, I’m going to fight him two more times.”
Catch Israel Adesanya’s comments about Alex Pereira’s walk-out (1:02:45) below: