An exciting rising fighter will be in attendance to watch Alex Pereira compete later today.
Pereira has put on a staggering amount of weight after successfully hitting the mark yesterday to make the main event of UFC 320 official.
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, ‘Poatan’ will look to reclaim the light heavyweight title by avenging his loss to Magomed Ankalaev.
There has been a lot of talk about Pereira being in much better physical condition this time around after taking some time off.
While his head coach has been working to prepare the former champion for a huge rematch, there’s another exciting fighter that he’s helping to become a future star.
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Alex Pereira’s training partner King Edokpolo looks to follow in his footsteps after posing with Dana White
Alex Pereira can tie a UFC record as the second three-time champion in two weight classes on October 4.
‘Poatan’ may be physically huge at light heavyweight, let alone middleweight, but one of his training partners absolutely dwarfs him.
After Pereira showed devastating potential early on in his MMA career, another fighter who started training fairly late on in his life is now looking to do the same.
24-year-old heavyweight King Edokpolo recently posed alongside Dana White and Hunter Campbell while being in Las Vegas for fight week.
Edokpolo, a former baseball player from both Nigerian and Japanese descent, currently fights in Rizin, where he is 2-0 in his pro career.
The towering rising star now shares a head coach with Pereira, Plinio Cruz, who spoke about the fighter’s potential during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show in September.
“He’s been training for two years but he’s a phenom,” Cruz said. “When I went there the first time, I took Alex with me. We trained, the kid is super talented. I just went again about a month ago. I’m his head coach now, officially. He is very promising.
“UFC have already shown interest but now he has a contract with Rizin so he’s potentially gonna be a big heavyweight star in the UFC one day.”
When Pereira was asked about his training with Edokpolo, he had just one thought, “Grande”, which translates to big.
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Rizin has helped the UFC to sign several of the promotion’s stars in recent times
As Plinio Cruz stated, King Edokpolo is still currently signed to Japanese promotion Rizin.
However, recent negotiations between them and the UFC would suggest that bringing the 24-year-old over to the Octagon at some point is a real possibility.
In January of 2024, it was reported that Rizin president Nobuyuki Sakakibara wanted to meet with the UFC to discuss two of his promotion’s top stars making the switch.
Kai Asakura was signed shortly after this and put straight into a UFC title fight, while Kyoji Horiguchi is set to make his return to the Octagon next month.