As Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira continues to dominate the UFC light heavyweight division, his younger sister Aline is making her own splash over in the Karate Combat promotion.
Last night, the 34-year-old Brazilian made easy work of Conor McGregor’s teammate Dee Begley, scoring a brutal first-round knockout with a left hook eerily similar to those thrown by older brother Alex.
Aline Pereira, sibling to UFC superstar Alex, scores first-round KO at Karate Combat
Heading into last night’s fabulous event out in Salt Lake City, opponent Dee Begley had suggested that the only reason why Karate Combat had been hyping up Aline was because of her surname.
“On Friday, I’ll show her it’s not just my last name,” teased the younger Pereira in response to the namesake insult, acknowledging that having brother Alex Pereira in her corner is a key part of her continued success.
“I can say that controlling the distance is kind of my specialty… This is very important to me, having him here with me and I’m very happy to have him by my side.
“I want to put on a show for the fans, I know that a lot of people are inspired by me, and I want to show everyone that they can do it too. Many people message me saying ‘Aline, you inspire me’ and that strengthens me – I want to show all my fans and give them that as a gift.”
A gift she promised, a gift she delivered; with Aline dropping and then finishing Begley inside round one with a vicious left hook that even on replay, was eerily similar to those thrown by her legendary sibling.
In fact, following the first-round knockout, Aline would claim ownership of the shot for her family, telling Din Thomas how “That’s the Pereira left hook – my big brother was the one who showed me.”
Aside from the argument over her surname, Aline Pereira also took issue with Begley coming in a whopping 9lbs over the contractually-agreed-upon limit.
“Yeah man, it was a big lack of professionalism,” lamented Pereira, explaining how both Begley’s significant weight miss and trash-talking led to her entering the Karate Combat arena with a KO on her mind.
“At first, she asked for the fight to be booked after we’d already signed to be 5lbs heavier – we accepted, and then she turned up 5lbs heavier.
“At the face-off, people said I did too much, but she talked a lot of c***, she said I was just here because having Pereira in my name, but guess what? Pereira runs in my blood and that’s what I showed tonight.”
Prior to her first-round knockout at Karate Combat 50, Aline had shared with UFC News how after a tough start in her brother’s shadow, she feels like she is finally stepping out into the limelight.
“When I first started kickboxing, I was judged for being Alex’s sister [and] there was a stigma. Everyone would say that I won my fights because I was Alex’s sister – they couldn’t accept that I was standing out and winning all those fights in such little time training.
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“Along the years I stood out more and people stopped calling me ‘Alex’s sister’ and started calling me ‘Aline Pereira’… I think that I was able to show my work to people and earn the respect.”
Aline Pereira is 1-2 in MMA, 6-2 in Kickboxing and now 1-0 in Karate.
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