Long before his dominance in the UFC, Brazilian star Alex Pereira was already turning in hellacious knockout wins — one in fact, which he later replicated.
Rising to prominence at the middleweight limit, Alex Pereira would first snatch the undisputed championship at 185lbs, before moving to light heavyweight and landing gold there, too.
And returning to action this weekend at UFC 320 against arch-rival Magomed Ankalaev in a title rematch, Pereira will look to avenge his first defeat at the weight class.
However, in his most recent win at 205lbs, Pereira had just replicated a near carbon-copy win from eight years prior in his young career.
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Alex Pereira’s carbon-copy Khalil Rountree knockout in 2016
No stranger to devastating knockout wins during his decorated combat sports career, Pereira entered the Octagon off the back of a faceplant knockout win on the regional circuit.
And landing countless demolition wins during his gold-laden run with Glory Kickboxing, Pereira would replicate his bloody knockout of Khalil Rountree in his final title defense — eight years after launching a scarily similar finish.
Sporting a rare moustache for his third and final Jungle Fight outing, Pereira would swarm countryman Marcus Vinicius da Silveira at the cage fence.
And in a wholly familiar barrage, the Sao Paulo crusher exploded with a flying knee, body shots, and his patented left shovel hook, dropping da Silveira with a stunning knockout win.
Alex Pereira vows to ‘surprise’ Magomed Ankalaev at UFC 320
Forced with avenging a defeat for the first time in his mixed martial arts career, Pereira remains confident of doing just that — despite pre-fight bravado from champion Ankalaev.
Reacting to bold claims from the Russian regarding his staggering knockout power, Pereira is not taking too much stock in suggestions he doesn’t hit that hard.
Given his roughshod run through middleweight and light heavyweight, Pereira pointed to his notable hitlist, vowing to “surprise” Ankalaev this weekend.
“Even the ref said that in 30 years he’s never seen anything like it [my power],” Pereira said ahead of UFC 320. “But that’s good. Let him think that. He’ll be in for a surprise.”