In only SEVEN UFC fights… Alex Pereira has set
a number of shining records. He’s the fastest to double-champ status in the UFC… has beaten FOUR
former UFC world champions and has only been to a decision twice… meaning that the Brazilian is
a SCARY individual you don’t want to cross paths with, let alone look him in the eye and talk crap.
Yet, a few guys tried to poke the bear and got ripped to shreds… like Sean Strickland…
Stricklad battled the Brazilian kickboxer in only the latter’s third U
FC fight… and
despite being far more experienced than Pereira, Strickland was being warned against standing
and trading shots with Mister Stone Hands. In an attempt to prove his naysayers
wrong, Sean Strickland went toe-to-toe with a beast like Pereira.
Throughout their fight, he stood in front of the big man… trading shots
relentlessly and he was made to pay for it… Halfway through the first round,
Pereira cracked him with a vicious blow and sent him packing on the follow up.
Strickland le
arned his lesson the hard way. A few months after their fight, the
two turned into the best of friends and even trained together, where Pereira
kept his stranglehold on the American. Immediately after taking out Sean Strickland,
Pereira bagged a middleweight title shot against his arch-rival, Israel Adesanya, who he
had already beaten twice in kickboxing and once by a devastating knockout.
Izzy was so confident that he had predicted leaving Pereira frozen like Elsa even
before they were off
icially booked to fight. But guess who was left frozen
like Elsa when the two collided? When the two battled at UFC 281, Adesanya
rattled Pereira once again in the first round, but the Brazilian was saved by the bell.
What followed was a back-and-forth battle where Izzy had the better of the striking
exchanges, whereas PoAtan relied on counters. By round five, the reigning champion was ahead
on the scorecards and knowing that he had to go for it, Pereira threw the kitchen sink at
the Last S
tylebender… landing a crunching left hook followed by a barrage of strikes that
ended the fight and Izzy’s dominant reign. Here’s why Izzy thought he lost.
As far as Pereira was concerned, he just did what his coaches said
and it was as simple as that. Six months later, the two locked horns
in a rematch at UFC 287… and pre-fight, Izzy was quieter than usual and a lot
more respectful… as he highlighted things that made Pereira a dangerous opponent.
Izzy showcased his fighting spirit by settin
g the perfect trap and knocking out Pereira in
round two to reclaim the 185-pound title… as well as his old self, celebrating his win by doing
Pereira’s iconic bow-and-arrow gesture… Before claiming that their rivalry was over… despite
it being 3 and 1 in favor of the Brazilian. Following the loss, Pereira moved up to light
heavyweight… where he first fought former 205-pound champion, Jan Blachowicz… who, being
the man to hand Adesanya his first career loss, was oozing with confidence ahead
of his battle with the Brazilian. For this fight in particular,
Pereira focused a lot on grappling. As well as training with his best friend
Glover Teixeira, he also sought the help of Dillon Danis… but there was only so much
that he could learn in a short amount of time, according to Blachowicz, who knew he had
the edge in the grappling department. Blachowicz was spot on in saying that Pereira
wouldn’t grapple, because he didn’t when the two locked horns at UFC 291, but he did
an excell
ent job of defending himself on the mat, and making his way back up. The
striking battle was very close as well, with Pereira doing enough damage to earn a closely
contested and controversial split decision. Blachowicz later said that he only
had himself to blame for the defeat, because he apparently gave more respect
to Pereira’s striking than it deserved. Pereira was a bit disappointed
as well… because he thought he didn’t truly show what he was capable of.
Pereira showed exactly that in
his second fight at light heavyweight, which was for the
vacant title against another former champion in the form of Jiri Prochazka… who’s like the
last guy you’d call cocky… but even he thought Pereira had no advantage heading into UFC 295.
Prior to fighting Pereira, Prochazka was on quite a run, with two chilling knockout victories and
a late comeback victory against Glover Teixeira, so no wonder why he was so confident, but
at UFC 295, Pereira proved why he was the most dangerous light he
avyweight on the planet.
In round one, Pereira chopped Prochazka’s lead leg down like a tree… forcing him to overextend and go
berserk in round two, where despite early success, he got caught and eventually got knocked out.
Now some said it was a premature stoppage… not Prochazka though…
Even Pereira didn’t see anything wrong with the stoppage. If anything,
he was happy that the referee saved Prochazka from unnecessary punishment.
The next time Pereira steps inside the cage… he will be up agai
nst another former
champion, Jamahal Hill, who plans to shut the Brazilian’s lights out.
Will Jamahal Hill be next on Pereira’s humbling list at UFC 300?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments. If you liked the video, subscribe to the
channel, and check out another one here!
Comments