Before making his way to the UFC, Alex ‘Poatan’ Pereira once went airborne to win a world title with one of the most vicious flying knee KOs you’ll ever see.
Scoring a knockout with a flying knee remains arguably the most brutal way you can win a fight – and as one of the premier strikers in the world, it’s no surprise that Alex Pereira has two of them.
Whilst the Brazilian superstar’s most famous flying knee KO was scored in his UFC debut against Andreas Michailidis; his most devastating airborne finish came in his Glory days.
Alex Pereira went airborne to land sensational flying knee KO
The year is 2019 and as he prepares to defend his Glory Kickboxing Middleweight title for a fourth time, Alex Pereira has his sights set on one thing and one thing only… Revenge.
Dutch standout Jason Wilnis had already scored two enormous wins over Poatan; the first via a second-round retirement in 2012, followed by a unanimous decision in 2015.
And safe to say that the future UFC superstar wasn’t about to go 3-0 down to the same fighter.
Pereira’s intent was obvious right from the opening bell, rushing across the ring to throw powerful kicks and whipping left hooks – even almost catching ‘Psycho’ with a spinning wheel kick less than 10 seconds into the first round.
A traditional slow-starter, Wilnis began to exchange low kicks with Pereira but left himself open to being countered time and time again – Poatan saw that opening and made him pay.
Just 70 seconds into round one, Pereira dropped Wilnis with a picture-perfect high kick that opened up a nasty cut above his left eye.
Almost as soon as the referee restarted the bout, Pereira sprinted across the ring and went airborne, jumping into a flying knee that landed flush on Wilnis’ chin.
“It’s very important for me to have my family here,” said Pereira after the KO win through his translator and coach Plinio Cruz.
“In the corner, right before the fight, my father looked at me and said ‘Give me this gift, give me the knockout’… We faked a few kicks on the bottom before we came upstairs and after that, we could see a flying knee [was there] and that was it.”
- EXPLAINED: Demetrious Johnson wants Kickboxing champion to transition to MMA and become the next Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira scored nasty knockouts everywhere he went
From the Kickboxing ring to the MMA cage, ‘Poatan’ has a habit of leaving fighters unconscious wherever he goes; even Pereira’s only professional boxing fight ended as brutally as you’d expect.
In 2017, Pereira took on fellow Brazilian Marcelo de Souza Cruz in his first and last pro boxing fight; with footage of that bout recently resurfacing on YouTube.
Fans were expecting Pereira to make easy work of Cruz and despite eating a few powerful shots, ‘Poatan’ was able to dominate the opening two rounds thanks to his superior footwork and speed.
In the third round, Pereira landed a powerful uppercut that wobbled Cruz; as his opponent backtracked towards the ropes, the future UFC champion unloaded his patented left hook to secure the TKO win.
The Brazilian superstar returns to action this weekend in the main event of UFC 313 against number one ranked contender Magomed Ankalaev – catch the action live from Las Vegas on March 8.