Alex Pereira made an instant impact on his UFC debut. The former GLORY middleweight and light heavyweight champion made his debut at UFC 268. He faced Andreas Michailidis and got a highlight knockout win over the Greek fighter. ‘Po Atan’ landed a devastating flying knee and punches to get a TKO win.
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Pereira had a lot of hype surrounding him before his debut, and it was mostly because of his two wins over Israel Adesanya. He is the only fighter to ever knockout out ‘The Last Stylebender.’ And following his impressive debut, many want to see him challenge the UFC middleweight champion.
The Brazilian fighter trains with the current UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira. In a recent interview, Teixeira was nothing but all praises for his training partner.
He said, “I think that if everything go well with him and the way he’s preparing himself and no injuries anywhere. I’m 100 percent, keep saying, by the end of 2022, he’ll (Alex Pereira) definitely be top five guys. Definitely be there.”
“He got everything, man. Champion mentality, he’s a hard worker. He wanted to be UFC champion. He’s like a hungry lion, like a young kid. You know he’s already a champion. He’s like you come to the gym like a young kid. Ready to go, ready to prepare. You tell him to do you know, hey Po Atan, let’s train wrestling, let’s train grappling, he is there.”
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Is Alex Pereira the next big thing in the UFC?
‘Po Atan’ is a kickboxing legend. Combat Press has currently ranked him the #1 middleweight, the #1 light-heavyweight, and the #6 pound-for-pound in kickboxing. He has 33 wins including 21 by the way of knockout during his time as a kickboxer.
The Brazilian first tried his hand at MMA in 2015 and lost his first fight via submission. Since then, he has fought four times and won all four fights. After going on a 3-0 run, he was signed by the UFC, and he impressed everyone on his debut. With his history with the current champion Israel Adesanya, people want to see them fight under MMA rules.
Right now, Pereira is slated to fight Bruno Silva at UFC Fight Night 204 in 2022. Silva is on a seven-fight win streak right now and is 3-0 in the UFC. 19 of his 22 wins have come by the way of a knockout and he will try to stand and bang with Pereira. The fight is sure to be a banger.
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If Pereira puts up another brilliant performance, a top 15 fight might not be far from him. He has the resume to be the next big thing in the UFC’s middleweight division and would look to keep his winning streak going.
Do you think Alex Pereira will be a top 5 middleweight by the end of 2022? Let us know in the comments!
