Photo Credit: AP
Alex Pereira became the ninth fighter in UFC history to become a two-division champion, as well as the fastest to do so, and he did it in his seventh fight, beating Randy Couture's record (9).
'Poatan' has just been inducted into the Glory (Kickboxing) Hall of Fame and is on track to be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame once he retires, as this week he climbed to fifth in the pound-for-pound rankings.
Someone with his pedigree climbed quickly in the UFC, taking down Israel Adesanya and going unbeaten at middleweight.
Their previous fights
In Glory, the Brazilian had defeated 'The Last Stylebender' twice - the last one by KO -, so they had a score to settle.
Pereira knocked out and snatched the UFC middleweight title from the Nigerian; in the rematch it was the other way around.
Poatan's career continued against Bachowicz in a higher division and after defeating Procházka at UFC 295, Pereira remembered his great rival.
The latter had been arrested in Auckland, New Zealand, on August 19 for a DUI and was not in the best of moods on September 10 against Sean Strickland and he then decided to take a long career break.
Making a comeback
What Alex wanted to do during his post-fight intervention is to return the 'favor' to Adesanya, who had publicly encouraged him in 2020 - in his own way - to stay away from drinking.
"He's going to be that kind of guy that when I'm world champion, when I'm a legend, he's going to be in a pub talking **** like, 'I beat him once," the African said.
After UFC 295, Pereira revisited his love story with Adesanya.
"He said I was going to be that guy that's in the pubs talking. That motivated me and rescued me from the bars to be here today, so I want to rescue him to come here and fight," he explained.
The Brazilian's message was very clear and his only goal is for 'The Last Stylebender' not to waste his talent.
