After the injury sustained by Conor Mcgregor leading up to his main event fight at UFC 303, the company was desperate to find another headliner for the card which is set to take place just two weeks after the announcement was made.
To many fans’ surprise, a new main event was made entirely which will see Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka step into the octagon with each other once more to face for Pereira’s UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.
This is not the first time Alex Pereira “saved” a UFC card, as he stepped in on short notice for UFC 300 as well. This, alongside his amazing striking talent, is slowly but surely turning Poatan into the next face of the company.
Pereira’s Middleweight Run
Alex Pereira entered the UFC as a middleweight after having one of the most dominating kickboxing careers of the 2010s. Because of this experience and his talent as a fighter, his UFC career was immediately jumpstarted as he already garnered a KO win over future UFC Middleweight Champion Sean Strickland in just his 3rd fight with the company.
Then, the matchup that everyone was waiting for was finally set to go down between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya at UFC 281. Alex and Issy have a huge history in their kickboxing careers as they fought each other twice, with Alex beating the then-middleweight champion in both those bouts.
When they stepped foot in the UFC, nothing had changed between the two as they were similar in skillset and in technique. It was a fight that Adesanya was slightly leading coming into the final round, but that’s when Poatan unleashed the power he had always shown and earned a 5th TKO victory becoming the new UFC Middleweight Champion.
Unfortunately for Pereira, the title reign wouldn’t last long as the future Hall of Famer Adesanya was able to win his title back at UFC 287 via a second-round knockout, marking Alex’s first loss in the company. Despite this loss, many fans still call this a 3-1 victory for Alex, as that’s exactly what it was.
Although it was short, this middleweight run for Pereira was a memorable one and turned him into a fan favorite.
Main Eventing UFC 295
One of the major career achievements in Alex Pereira’s career was winning the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. This came at UFC 295 when Alex faced top light heavyweight contender Jiri Prochazka in a battle for the vacant title.
This fight was originally supposed to be the co-main event of UFC 295, but with the Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic fight being canceled, the two warriors had to step up to battle in the card’s main event. This was one of Alex’s first tests in terms of stepping up, and he proved himself that night.
Alex was coming off of a great light heavyweight debut win against Jan Blachowicz, which he won via split decision. Prochazka was the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion but had to vacate the title due to injury. Coming into UFC 295, Jiri was undefeated in the UFC and had finished all of his prior opponents.
Despite that, Alex Pereira was able to overcome the dominating grappler and finished Prochazka early in the second round via TKO. This led to Alex Pereira becoming the fastest fighter in UFC history to win a championship in two different weight classes, that being middleweight and light heavyweight.
Although the fight was great and highly entertaining, many fans argued that the stoppage was somewhat early, a thought process that led to an inevitable rematch between the two fighters.
Stepping in For UFC 300 & UFC 303
One of the key characteristics that has turned Alex Pereira into such a favorite is his willingness to fight anytime, anywhere, no matter what the circumstance. During the buildup to UFC 300, Dana White and the UFC were struggling to find a main-event fight. Pereira was originally scheduled to fight at UFC 301 in Brazil, but immediately took the opportunity to fight at 300 which cut his training camp by 3 weeks.
Alex stepped into the main event of UFC 300 against one of the top contenders in the light heavyweight division, Jamahal Hill. What was looked at as a competitive matchup turned out to be a quick night for Poatan as he shocked the world by knocking out Hill in the first round of their championship fight?
Not even 3 months later, Pereira saved the UFC once again as Conor Mcgregor suffered an injury during the leadup to UFC 303. Fans expected the main event to be Michael Chandler taking on the backup in Charles Oliveira but were shocked to hear that the new headliner would see Alex defend his title once again against Jiri Prochazka.
Both Alex and Jiri won their matches at UFC 300, which led to this rematch being made. It will be interesting to see if Prochazka will walk out with the title he had never originally lost, or if Bruce Buffer will be announcing And Still by the end of the event.
Alex has since then been labeled as the “savior” of the UFC, as he stepped in for two of the company’s most important cards of the year. This alongside his stone-cold personality that’s already loved by fans makes it immediately clear that he has the potential to become the next face of the UFC.
About The Author
Shayan Malik has always been an avid fan of sports. He is currently studying sports communication, as he is hoping to take his sports knowledge to the next level. He enjoys writing about combat sports such as MMA, wrestling, and boxing.
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