Alex Pereira is gearing up to face Jiri Prochazka for the light heavyweight title at UFC 295 this weekend in New York City. While the former middleweight champion is undoubtedly focused on his next assignment, he recently took some time to pull a hilarious prank on Daniel Cormier.
In a video recently uploaded by @fullviolence on Instagram, Pereira can be seen giving Cormier a taste of his calf kicks. The former two-division champion can be seen asking the Brazilian to start kicking him at 5% of his full power, and they worked their way up to 25% slowly.
Afterward, Alex Pereira held a golf club and asked Daniel Cormier to face the wall and stand with his back turned for a little while. ‘DC’ was understandably suspicious of Pereira’s intentions, and the two shared some banter via the Brazilian’s coach, Plinio Cruz.
As Cormier turned his back, Pereira lightly smacked him on the back of his head, making it look as if he swung the golf club dangerously close at full tilt. The prank proved successful as Cormier was equal parts shocked and surprised.
Fans loved the banter-filled chemistry between the two and flocked to the post’s comments section to express themselves.
One fan praised Pereira’s sense of humor and wrote:
“Pereira is so funny he don’t need no translation.”
Another fan wrote:
“Yoo, Alex is pure comedy.”
Check out some more reactions below:
Alex Pereira doesn’t believe that Israel Adesanya will be away from action for too long
Israel Adesanya recently announced that he’ll be taking an extended break from MMA, and fans shouldn’t expect to see him in action for the next few years. The Nigerian-born Kiwi’s decision came in the wake of his shocking title loss against Sean Strickland at UFC 293 in September.
While most understood Adesanya’s decision, his longtime combat sports rival Alex Pereira isn’t buying the story. ‘Poatan’ is 3-1 over Adesanya across kickboxing and MMA and won the middleweight title by knocking ‘The Last Stylebender’ out at UFC 281 last year. However, Adesanya reclaimed the 185-pound strap in their rubber match at UFC 287 via second-round knockout.
Given their history, Alex Pereira knows a thing or two about his rival. In a recent interview with MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast, ‘Poatan’ dismissed the idea of Israel Adesanya staying away for long and said:
“I don’t think that’s true, he won’t stay [out] that long. And that’s not good for him, to not fight for that long… I think he needs a bit more motivation. If he finds something that motivates him, I think he comes back quickly.”
