Video: Vicious KO marks Alex Pereira’s much-anticipated return to MMA

Watch out MMA world, Alex Pereira has arrived. Last night the Brazilian kickboxing star made his Stateside MMA debut, at LFA 95, where he…

By: Tim Bissell | 3 years ago
Video: Vicious KO marks Alex Pereira’s much-anticipated return to MMA
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Watch out MMA world, Alex Pereira has arrived.

Last night the Brazilian kickboxing star made his Stateside MMA debut, at LFA 95, where he took on Thomas Powell. The fight didn’t make it out of the first round. You can see what happened below:

Pereira’s left hook caught Powell clean on the jaw, sending the American flat on his face. Powell remained motionless on the ground for a good five minutes. Powell would come to, though, reportedly asking where he was and what had just happened.

Pereira is a 33-year-old Glory kickboxing veteran. His accolades with that promotion include the middleweight title and and interim light heavyweight title.

His record in kickboxing is an impressive 40-6 with 29 knockouts. On Pereira’s record are two victories over current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

The first time he met The Last Stylebender was at Glory of Heroes in China in 2016. That bout ended with a decision victory for the Brazilian. The second time they met Pereira knocked Adesanya clean out, at Glory of Heroes 7 in Sao Paulo. He knocked Adesanya out with the same left hook that did so much damage last night.

His win at LFA was not Pereira’s first foray into MMA. His MMA debut was back in 2015, which he lost via submission. In 2016 he won two MMA fights (both by TKO/KO) before fully dedicating himself to kickboxing for the next four years.

With his history with Adesanya, if Pereira keeps winning in impressive fashion, expect to see him fast tracked to the UFC very soon.

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About the author
Tim Bissell
Tim Bissell

Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. Among Tim's specialties are the intersections between crime and combat sports. Tim has also covered head trauma, concussions and CTE in great detail.

Email me at tim@bloodyelbow.com. Nice messages will get a response.

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