UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira’s first win in the Octagon came despite the worst injury of his combat sports career.
Alex Pereira‘s quick ascent in the UFC is unprecedented. In just a handful of fights into his MMA career, Pereira made history as the fastest to earn multiple UFC titles, including his title win over his two-time kickboxing rival Israel Adesanya.
Pereira will return to the Octagon in weeks to defend the UFC light heavyweight title against Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 313. Since making the full-time move to light heavyweight, Pereira is 5-0 in the cage, with four of those wins coming by stoppage.
Before his light heavyweight success, Pereira rose to the UFC scene in the middleweight division, taking on Andreas Michailidis at UFC 268. Longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan, an avid fan of Pereira’s kickboxing career, hyped up Pereira’s debut as must-see television.
Pereira knocked out Michailidis with a flying knee in Round 2 and earned a post-fight performance bonus for his efforts. But ahead of his UFC debut, Pereira nearly withdrew from the fight due to what he’s called the worst injury of his career.
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Alex Pereira suffered gruesome ankle injury before flying knee knockout
In a recent interview with Mark Bouris, Pereira explained the injury that nearly squashed his UFC debut fight.
“I don’t know if anybody knows this, but prior to my UFC debut, I had a bad injury on my ankle/foot,” Pereira said. “I had to push forward, didn’t want to spoil it and not fight…and then I won by knockout.”
Pereira has since fought with multiple injuries during his light heavyweight title reign. Before recent title defenses against Jiří Procházka and Khalil Rountree Jr., Pereira suffered from multiple foot injuries that impacted his training and preparation.
But true to Pereira’s warrior persona, he’s willing to fight injured to defend his light heavyweight throne.
Alex Pereira aims to accomplish one more big goal after UFC 313
As Pereira prepares for his upcoming title defense, a win could signal a new pursuit after UFC 313. Pereira wants to move up to heavyweight for a super fight with either Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall, who are expected to clash later this year.
Pereira could also team up with Adesanya for the latter’s upcoming fight camp. The two former rivals shared a viral cageside conversation at UFC 312.
Pereira also ‘agreed’ to a showdown with Dricus du Plessis backstage at UFC 312. Du Plessis defeated Pereira’s former opponent, Sean Strickland, in the UFC 312 main event earlier this month.
Pereira is a busy man ahead of his upcoming UFC fighting return, and as he looks back on his debut, it sounds like he was close to not making the walk and potentially not going on his current path to success.
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