The former Ivan Drago of UFC has evolved into Rocky Balboa.
UFC celebrated its tricentennial Saturday night with UFC 300 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The milestone occasion delivered non-stop action with every fight and reached an emphatic conclusion when Alex Pereira knocked out Jamahal Hill in the first round to retain his UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
After absorbing an unintentional kick to the groin, the defending champ remained undeterred and calmly waved off referee Herb Dean. Without skipping a beat, “Poatan” (which fittingly translates to “stone hands”) delivered his signature left hook to send the challenger into another dimension.
"He got hit in the groin," said UFC President Dana White. "He was like, 'Nuh uh,' [to Dean] and then knocks [Hill] out. ... That was incredibly gangster."
With another dominant performance, the man formerly driven by his high-profile rivalry with Israel Adesanya continues to cement his own historic legacy within UFC.
Pereira, 36, first crossed paths with “The Last Stylebender” in GLORY Kickboxing. The pair squared off in 2016 and again in 2017, where the Brazil native ultimately won both fights, the latter of which came by knockout.
The following years saw the fighters diverge into different paths while finding success in their own right. Pereira continued to dominate the kickboxing world and Adesanya ventured into the realm of mixed martial arts.
Stylebender made his UFC debut in 2018 and quickly rose the ranks to become the UFC Middleweight Champion. With the belt around his waist, he ran circles around his division while becoming a star, in the process.
In 2020, the flourishing champion was interviewed by Sporting News Australia, where he acknowledged the one man who made him look human - Pereira. Reflecting on his first and only career knockout from all those years ago, Adesanya addressed his thoughts on his former adversary.
“At the end of the day, no one knows who the f*** he is, and he's going to be that guy when I'm world champion, when I'm a legend, he's going to be at some pub talking sh** about, 'I beat that guy one time.”
Adesanya’s comments sparked a fire within Pereira, motivating him to follow his outspoken rival into the UFC. The 6’4”, stone-faced warrior joined the promotion in 2021 with one simple mission: hunt down Adesanya and beat him at his own game.
From the moment he joined the UFC, Pereira emphasized that he and Stylebender were once again on a collision course. Within the promotion, Poatan dominated his competition and quickly earned a shot at Adesanya after just his third UFC fight (seventh in MMA).
"I never forgot any word that [Adesanya] said," Pereira told ESPN through an interpreter. "I used that as motivation to climb all the way up here for this.”
After four years, the intense rivalry was reignited and the pair squared off yet again at UFC 281 in New York City. Adesanya’s MMA wisdom gave him the competitive edge over the challenger but couldn’t rule out a puncher’s chance.
In the final round, a desperate Pereira aggressively pushed the pace and landed the same devastating left hook that knocked out Adesanya all those years ago. The champ was out on his feet and Poatan continued to rain down on him until referee Marc Goddard pulled him off.
Once again, Pereira had knocked out Stylebender to accomplish his sole objective in the promotion.
The shocking upset prompted an immediate rematch and the two squared off yet again at UFC 287 in Miami, Florida. There, Adesanya valiantly redeemed himself by knocking out Pereira in the second round to reclaim the Middleweight title.
Following the Adesanya fights, Pereira’s UFC future became uncertain. Having achieved his purpose, Poatan no longer possessed a clear direction within the promotion. However, the man who once described himself as the “stone in Adesanya’s shoe” didn’t just wait around to fight his rival again.
Instead, the former Middleweight champ used the blank slate as an opportunity to redefine himself and become a star in his own right.
After the Adesanya rematch, Poatan moved up to the Light Heavyweight division and squared off against former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Jan Blachowicz. The newcomer looked natural at 205 lbs, securing a split-decision victory that immediately established him as a threat in the division.
In his post-fight interview, Poatan indicated a shift in his priorities.
"My focus is always the belt," he said through an interpreter. "I want to fight for the belt, it doesn't matter against who."
Pereira got his opportunity to fight for the gold at UFC 295, where he returned to Madison Square Garden to take on Jiří Procházka for the vacated UFC Light Heavyweight Championship (previously relinquished by Jamahal Hill due to injury).
In the fight, Poatan immobilized Procházka with devastating leg kicks before, once again, finishing the job with his patented left hook in the second round for a TKO victory to become the ninth two-division champion in UFC history.
In his post-fight interview, Pereira addressed his former foe — who had recently lost his Middleweight strap to Sean Strickland — and offered him a shot at his newly won title. In a sense, he was resurfacing old news, but his position had changed from revenge-hungry to generous.
“I am not the type of guy that calls people out, but there is a guy that I want to fight… He once made an interview where he said that I sit in a bar and envy him. By that he motivated me. He rescued me from that bar. Now he says that he won’t fight until 2027, but I think it would be a waste of talent, so I want to rescue him too.”
Although he welcomes the trilogy fight, Poatan has reached a point in his career where he doesn’t need it. Recognizing this, Pereira later said, "I wanted to give him the chance... If he comes up, nice; if he doesn't, it doesn't matter."
While leaving the door open for Adesanya to come to him, Pereira remains focused on dominating his division and shining as one of the premier faces of the UFC.
In just three years, Pereira has recorded accolades comparable to a seasoned veteran. Boasting a UFC record of 7-1, Poatan has already defeated five former UFC champions in his short run with the promotion. Additionally, he became a two-division UFC champion in just seven fights, which is the fastest a fighter has ever accomplished the feat.
As a cherry on top, Pereira’s most recent victories over Procházka and Hill heroically avenged the losses of his training partner and coach, Glover Teixeira.
In light of his success in the Octagon, Pereira has also revealed his one-of-one personality. Whether it’s his unique sense of humor, merch collaborations or personalized fight shorts, Pereira has allowed fans to peer behind his stoic persona and emerge as a fan favorite.
Pereira’s dominance and star power have propelled him to become one of the promotion’s most dependable main event draws. Poatan has headlined four massive UFC cards, including two at Madison Square Garden and the company’s 300th anniversary, where he’s put on a show every time.
"It's incredible," Dana White said after Pereira defeated Procházka at UFC 295. "I don't know about an all-time great [yet]. But it's incredibly impressive what he's done in a short amount of time."
Setting his sites on the future, Poatan is motivated to further solidify his legacy by becoming the first three-division champion in UFC history. In his post-fight interview at UFC 300, he announced his intention to move up a weight class to challenge for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
“I've talked a lot about fighting in Brazil if I won this fight,” Pereira said, alluding to UFC 301 in Rio De Janeiro. “I won this fight, I'm not hurt, nothing happened. I know there needs to be a lot of promotion behind a fight, but I want to have a fight at heavyweight."
With UFC 301 less than a month away, it’s unlikely for Pereira to join the card and challenge for the Heavyweight strap. However, the sky's the limit for one of the most dominant and exciting fighters of the modern era and it may not be long before he challenges current champ Tom Aspinall for a shot at immortality.
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